Botswana general election, 2014

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Botswana general election, 2014
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←  2009 24 October 2014 (2014-10-24)2019 →
57 of the 63 seats to the National Assembly
29 seats needed for a majority
Turnout84.75%
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Ian Khama (2014) (cropped).jpg "Picture of Duma Boko".jpeg "Dumelang Saleshando".jpeg
Leader Ian Khama Duma Boko Dumelang Saleshando
Party BDP UDC BCP
Seats won37173
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 8Increase2.svg 11Decrease2.svg 1
Popular vote320,647207,113140,998
Percentage46.5%30.020.4
President before election

Ian Khama
BDP

Elected President

Ian Khama
BDP

Botswana
Arms of Botswana.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Botswana
Constitution

General elections were held in Botswana on 24 October 2014. [1] The result was an eleventh straight victory for the Botswana Democratic Party, which won 37 of the 57 elected seats. Incumbent President Ian Khama was sworn in for a second term on 28 October. [2]

Botswana republic in southern Africa

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. Since then, they maintain a tradition of stable representative republic, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the best perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998. It is currently Africa's oldest continuous democracy.

Botswana Democratic Party political party

The Botswana Democratic Party is the governing party in Botswana. Its chairman is the current Vice-President of the Republic of Botswana, Slumber Tsogwane. The previous party chairs include, among others, Mokgweetsi Masisi, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, Daniel Kwelagobe, Samson Guma Moyo, and Lieutenant General Ian Khama.

Ian Khama Botswanan politician

Serêtsê Khama Ian Khama is a Motswana former military officer and retired politician who served as the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence Force, he entered politics and served as Vice-President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008, then succeeded Festus Mogae as President on 1 April 2008. He won a full term in the 2009 election and was re-elected in October 2014.

Contents

Electoral system

At the time of the elections the 63 members of the National Assembly were divided between 57 MPs elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post, four members appointed by the governing party, and two ex-officio members (the President and the Attorney General). [3]

National Assembly (Botswana) parliament of Botswana

The National Assembly is the legislative body within Botswana's unicameral Parliament. It is advised by the Ntlo ya Dikgosi, which is not a house of Parliament.

Voters had to be Botswana citizens at least 18 years old who had been resident in the country for at least 12 months prior to voter registration. People declared insane, holding dual citizenship, under a death sentence, convicted of an electoral offence or imprisoned for at least six months were not allowed to vote. [4] Candidates had to be Botswana citizens at least 21 years old, without an undischarged bankruptcy, and had to be able to speak and read English sufficiently well to take part in parliamentary proceedings. [4]

Campaign

In November 2013 three opposition parties, the Botswana National Front, the Botswana People's Party and the Botswana Movement for Democracy formed the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) alliance. [5] A total of 192 candidates contested the elections. The Botswana Democratic Party was the only party to contest all 57 seats; the Botswana Congress Party had 54 candidates and the Umbrella for Democratic Change put forward 52, whilst there were also 29 independents. [6]

The Botswana National Front has been the main opposition party in Botswana since the 1969 elections. It achieved its greatest electoral success in the 1994 elections, when it won 37.1% of the vote and 13 of 40 parliamentary seats. A factional conflict in 1998 led to the departure of 11 of these MPs, who then founded the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). In the 1999 elections, the BNF's vote share declined to 26% and it won 6 parliamentary seats. In the 2004 general election the party won 26.1% of the popular vote and 12 out of 57 seats. Its representation was sharply reduced in the 2009 elections, with the party reduced to only six seats in the National Assembly of Botswana. The BNF's parliamentary representation fell to 5 seats following the defection of the party's former Vice President, Olebile Gaborone, to the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in July 2010.

The Botswana People's Party (BPP) was formed as the Bechuanaland People's Party during Botswana's colonial era, in December 1960. As a result of disappointment with the Legislative Council, under the leadership of Kgalemang T. Motsete, an accomplished music composer and educationist, BPP became the first mass party to agitate for full independence.

The Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) is an opposition political party in Botswana established in 2010 by MPs and other politicians who split from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party over differences with Ian Khama, the BDP's leader and President of Botswana.

The UDC accused Khama of being increasingly authoritarian. In response, Khama ran on a platform pledging change. [7]

Results

On 25 October, Botswana's election commission said that the Democratic Party had won 33 of the parliament's seats. [8] Though vote counting had not been completed, the preliminary results were enough to confirm the Democratic Party had won a majority (at least 29) of the seats, though at a slimmer margin than in the previous election. [8] Botswana's Chief Justice, Maruping Dibotelo, subsequently issued a statement on 26 October confirming the BDP's victory, saying that "the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) garnered at least 29 of the 57 parliamentary seats" in the election. [9] The electoral commission subsequently said that the BDP had won a total of 37 seats, with the UDC winning 17 and the BCP three. [10] A further four seats will be filled by candidates selected by Parliament, with the president and attorney general filling the last two in the 63-seat chamber. [8] The MPs will select the country's next president, widely expected to be Khama for a second term of five years. [9]

An estimated 700,000 people voted in the election, representing a high turnout in a country with a population of two million and 824,000 registered voters. [9] [8] Preliminary results showed that the two opposition parties had been most successful in urban areas of the country, [8] and attracted younger voters who disapproved of President Khama's handling of the economy, while the BDP retained its rural support. [9]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Botswana Democratic Party 320,65746.4537–8
Umbrella for Democratic Change 207,11330.0117+11
Botswana Congress Party 140,99820.433–1
Independents21,4843.110–1
Indirectly-elected seats––6–
Invalid/blank votes8,167–––
Total698,409100630
Registered voters/turnout824,07383.66––
Source: IEC Botswana

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Khama dissolves parliament, fixes 2014 election date". afriquejet.com. 7 August 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "Botswana's Khama sworn in for 2nd term", AFP, 28 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Botswana IFES
  4. 1 2 Electoral system IPU
  5. ↑ Khonani Ontebetse, BDP faces growing UDC threat as elections loom-report Archived October 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine . Sunday Standard, 29 June 2014
  6. ↑ Parliamentary Candidates Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine . IEC
  7. ↑ Botswana ruling party wins national election Al Jazeera, 26 October 2014
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Botswana's ruling Democratic Party wins general elections". BBC News Online. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Botswana ruling party wins national elections". Al Jazeera. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "IEC tweet". IEC Botswana on Twitter. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
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