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57 of the 63 seats in the National Assembly 29 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 76.20% ( 0.91pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in Botswana on 30 October 2004, alongside local elections. The result was a ninth consecutive victory for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which won 44 of the 57 seats in the National Assembly.
The Independent Electoral Commission had a campaign to encourage voter registration, with a target of registering at 500,000 voters. Although it achieved its target, registering around 61% of the estimated 900,000 voting-age population, the opposition Botswana National Front (BNF) accused it of making errors in the registration process. [1]
For the first time, the election campaign involved parties using billboards. However, the opposition claimed that their media access was restricted, and a study by the Media Institute of Southern Africa showed that the BDP had received over 50% of the election coverage. [1] The BDP campaigned on promises to improve training, expand electricity and water supplies and amend laws that discriminated against women. The campaign of the opposition parties focused on unemployment and poverty. [1] However, although the BNF, Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) and Botswana People's Party (BPP), entered into an electoral pact agreement in 2003, their campaigns were marked by open personal attacks between them and their leaders.
Fifty-six of the 57 constituencies were contested, with Vice President Ian Khama unopposed in the Serowe North constituency. [1]
For the first time, international monitors were able to observe the elections, with delegations from the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, the Commonwealth and the United Nations in attendance. There were 11,000 personnel from the Independent Electoral Commission involved in running the elections. [1]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botswana Democratic Party | 213,308 | 51.73 | 44 | +11 | |
| Botswana National Front | 107,451 | 26.06 | 12 | +6 | |
| Botswana Congress Party | 68,556 | 16.62 | 1 | 0 | |
| Botswana Alliance Movement | 11,716 | 2.84 | 0 | 0 | |
| Botswana People's Party | 7,886 | 1.91 | 0 | New | |
| New Democratic Front | 3,237 | 0.78 | 0 | New | |
| MELS Movement of Botswana | 121 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
| Independents | 104 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
| Indirectly-elected seats | 6 | +2 | |||
| Total | 412,379 | 100.00 | 63 | +19 | |
| Valid votes | 412,379 | 97.89 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 8,893 | 2.11 | |||
| Total votes | 421,272 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 552,849 | 76.20 | |||
| Source: African Elections Database | |||||
Botswana is a parliamentary republic in which the President of Botswana is both head of state and head of government. The nation's politics are based heavily on British parliamentary politics and on traditional Batswana chiefdom. The legislature is made up of the unicameral National Assembly and the advisory body of tribal chiefs, the Ntlo ya Dikgosi. The National Assembly chooses the president, but once in office the president has significant authority over the legislature with only limited separation of powers.
The Botswana National Front (BNF) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. It was the main opposition party in Botswana from the 1969 elections until the 2024 elections.
The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. Founded in 1998 as a result of a split from the Botswana National Front (BNF), the party attracted most of the BNF's sitting MPs due to a leadership dispute involving the BNF's leader, Kenneth Koma.
Elections in Botswana take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a parliamentary system. The National Assembly is mostly directly elected, and in turn elects the President and some of its own members. The Ntlo ya Dikgosi is a mixture of appointed, hereditary and indirectly elected members.
The MELS Movement of Botswana was an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in Botswana without parliamentary representation. Themba Joina, a practicing lawyer, was the president of the organization. The name MELS is derived from (Karl) Marx, (Friedrich) Engels, (Vladimir) Lenin and (Joseph) Stalin.
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