Parliament of Botswana

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Parliament of Botswana
Palamente ya Botswana
13th Parliament
Coat of arms of Botswana.svg
Type
Type
Houses National Assembly
History
Founded1 March 1965 (1965-03-01)
Leadership
Dithapelo Keorapetse
since 7 November 2024
Deputy Speaker
Helen Manyeneng, UDC
since 7 November 2024
Duma Boko
since 1 November 2024
Leader of the House
Ndaba Gaolathe,UDC
since 7 November 2024
Government Whip
TBD,UDC
Dumelang Saleshando, BCP
since 11 November 2024
Opposition whip
Caterpillar Hikuama,BCP
since 11 November 2024
Structure
Seats69
Parliament of Botswana.svg
National Assembly political groups
Government (49)
  •   Umbrella for Democratic Change (36) [a]
  •   Botswana Patriotic Front (5)
  •   Specially-elected (6)
  •   Independent (1)
  •   President
    (Ex-officio) (1) [1]

Official opposition (15)

Other opposition (4)

Presiding officer (1)

Elections
First-past-the-post voting
Last National Assembly election
30 October 2024
Meeting place
BotswanaParliament.jpg
National Assembly Chamber
Gaborone
South-East District
Website
www.parliament.gov.bw

The Parliament of Botswana consists of the President and the National Assembly . [2] In contrast to other parliamentary systems, the Parliament elects the President directly (instead of having both a ceremonial President and a Prime Minister who has real authority as head of government) for a set five-year term of office. A president can only serve 2 full terms. The President is both Head of state and of government in Botswana's parliamentary republican system. Parliament of Botswana is the supreme legislative authority. [3] The President of Botswana is Mokgweetsi Masisi, who assumed the Presidency on 1 April 2018. In October 2019, the 2019 general election was held which saw the return of the Botswana Democratic Party to the power with a majority of 19 seats in the 65 seat National Assembly.

Contents

There also exists a body known as Ntlo ya Dikgosi , (The House of Chiefs), which is an advisory body that does not form part of the Parliament. [4]

Botswana is one of only two nations on the African continent (with the other being Mauritius) to have achieved a clean record of free and fair elections since independence, having held 11 elections since 1966 without any serious incidents of corruption. [5]

See also

Notes

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References

  1. 1 2 "FAQs". parliament.gov.bw. Parliament of Botswana. Retrieved 22 July 2021. 2 are Ex-officios being the President and The Speaker
  2. Constitution of the Republic of Botswana, 1966
  3. "Parliament of Botswana". Parliament of Botswana. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  4. Proctor, J. H. (1968). "The House of Chiefs and the Political Development of Botswana". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 6 (1): 59–79. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00016670. ISSN   0022-278X. JSTOR   158677. S2CID   154486897.
  5. US State Department