The Botswana Democratic Party is the governing party in Botswana. Its chairman is the Vice-President of Botswana, Slumber Tsogwane, and its symbol is a lift jack. The party has ruled Botswana continuously since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. The BDP is sometimes classified as a paternalistic conservative party and is also a consultative member of the Socialist International since 2014, which is a group including many worldwide social-democratic parties.
The Botswana National Front (BNF) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. It has been the main opposition party in Botswana since the 1969 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.
The National Assembly is the sole legislative body of Botswana's unicameral Parliament, of which consists of the President and the National Assembly. The House passes laws, provides ministers to form Cabinet, and supervises the work of government. It is also responsible for adopting the country's budgets. It is advised by the Ntlo ya Dikgosi, a council of tribal chiefs which is not a house of Parliament.
Mompati Sebogodi Merafhe was a Botswana politician who was Vice-President of Botswana from 2008 to 2012. He was a retired Lieutenant-General and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 2008.
Seretse Khama Ian Khama is a Botswana politician and former military officer who was 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 was 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.
Ponatshego Honorius Kefaeng Kedikilwe is a Motswana politician who was Vice-President of Botswana from 2012 to 2014. A member of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), he has also served as Minister of Minerals, Energy, and Water Resources since 2007.
Margaret Nnananyana Nasha is a Botswana politician who served as the Speaker of the National Assembly from 2009 to 2014. She was the first woman to hold the position.
The Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) is a right-wing populist political party in Botswana, founded in 2010 by MPs and other politicians who parted ways with the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) due to differences with Ian Khama, the leader of the BDP and the President of Botswana at the time.
General and local elections were held in Botswana on 24 October 2014. 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.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is a centre-left to left-wing alliance of political parties in Botswana.
Gladys Keitumetse Theresa Kokorwe is a Botswana politician who was the Speaker of the National Assembly from 2014 to 2019. She is a member of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).
General elections were held in Botswana on 23 October 2019 to elect MPs and local government councillors. Despite a high profile split in the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in May 2019 when former President Ian Khama left the party and switched his support to the new Botswana Patriotic Front, the BDP's vote share increased to almost 53% as the party won 38 of the 57 elected seats in the National Assembly, a gain of one compared to the 2014 elections. The elections were the twelfth straight victory for the BDP.
The Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) is a populist political party in Botswana formed in July 2019 by members of the Botswana Democratic Party who split from the party because of a high-profile rivalry between former President Ian Khama and Mokgweetsi Masisi.
Anna Maria Mokgethi is a Motswana politician serving as the Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs since November 2019. She is the Member of Parliament for Gaborone Bonnington North. Mokgethi is a member of the Botswana Democratic Party.
In Botswana, the Leader of the Opposition is the person who leads the official opposition in Botswana. The position is awarded to the leader of the political party with the largest number of seats in the National Assembly that is not in the government. The position was created shortly before the independence of Botswana, after the first elections under universal suffrage in the then territory of Bechuanaland.
The 2024 Botswana general election will be held to determine the composition of the 13th Parliament of Botswana as well as local councils across the country. Up for election are 61 seats of the National Assembly as well as 490 local council seats, all elected through the first-past-the-post voting system.
The 12th Parliament of Botswana is the current meeting of the National Assembly, the unicameral legislature of the Parliament of Botswana, with the membership determined by the results of the general election held on 23 October 2019. The legislature convened for the first time on 5 November 2019.
A by-election for the Botswana parliamentary constituency of Serowe West was held on 8 July 2023. The vacancy was caused by the expulsion on 21 April 2023 of the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Tshekedi Khama of the BPF, following his absence from the minimum required two consecutive meetings of the same session to trigger a by-election per the Standing Orders of the National Assembly.
Biggie Ganda Butale is a Motswana politician and the current leader of the Botswana Republican Party (BRP) since 14 November 2023. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Tati West in the 11th Parliament from 2014 to 2019. Butale, the founding President of the Botswana Patriotic Front from July 2019 to July 2023, was ousted following a leadership dispute. Subsequently, he established the BRP on 14 November 2023.
