Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected by the Kazungula Bridge to Zambia, across the world's shortest border between two countries.
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 Democratic Party (BDP) rules as a dominant party; while elections are considered free and fair by observers, the BDP has controlled the National Assembly since independence. Political opposition often exists between factions in the BDP rather than through separate parties, though several opposition parties exist and regularly hold a small number of seats in the National Assembly.
The Republican Party, also known as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. It emerged as the main political rival of the Democratic Party in the mid-1850s.
The BPF Party is a banned political party in Belarus. It was de facto established after the split of the social movement Belarusian Popular Front in 1999. The Belarusian Popular Front was founded during the Perestroika era by members of the Belarusian intelligentsia, including Vasil Bykaŭ. Its first and most charismatic leader was Zianon Pazniak.
The Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" was a social and political movement in Belarus in the late 1980s and 1990s whose goals were national revival of Belarus, its democratization and independence from the Soviet Union. Its leader was Zianon Pazniak. It was similar to the Popular Fronts of Latvia and Estonia, and the Sąjūdis movement in Lithuania.
Zianon Stanislavavič Pazniak is a Belarusian nationalist politician, one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front and leader of the Conservative Christian Party – BPF. He was the Belarusian Popular Front nominee for President of Belarus in the 1994 election.
The Parliament of Botswana consists of the President and the National Assembly. In contrast to other parliamentary systems, the Parliament elects the President directly 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. 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.
The Bodoland People's Front (BPF) is a state political party in Assam, India. The party is headquartered in Kokrajhar Town and previously was in ruling government in the autonomous region of Bodoland. It along with UPPL is the two main regional parties of Assam from Bodoland.
Tshekedi Stanford Khama is a Botswana politician. He was MP for Serowe West from 2008 to 21 April 2023. He was automatically disqualified from the National Assembly after missing two consecutive sessions because of his self-imposed exile to South Africa.
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.
The Baltic Republican Party was a political party in the Russian Federation. Founded on 1 December 1993 in Kaliningrad Oblast and lost its official status as a political party on 26 March 2003 due to the new Russian Law on political parties which requires that each party should have regional branches in at least half of the Russian Federation constituencies and at least 10,000 members in strength. An appeal was lost in February 2005 before the Constitutional Court of Russia. The main political purpose of the party was the establishment of an autonomous Baltic Republic instead of the Kaliningrad region, possibly total independence. It also wanted the old name Königsberg restored. Its leaders are Sergei Pasko and Rustam Vasiliev.
Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi is a Botswana politician who is the fifth and current President of Botswana, serving since 2018. He served as the 8th Vice President of Botswana from 12 November 2014 to 1 April 2018. He was a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly for the Moshupa-Manyana constituency from 2009 to 2018.
Dumelang Saleshando is a politician from Botswana who served as the Leader of the Opposition in Botswana from 2019-2022. He was replaced by Dithapelo Keorapetse.
Botswana held a general election in October 2019. Though it was more competitive than previous elections, it resulted in a victory for the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and won an addition term for President Mokgweetsi Masisi. Botswana saw an escalation in the rivalry between Masisi and his predecessor Ian Khama, with Khama leaving the Botswana Democratic Party to support the Botswana Patriotic Front and the Umbrella for Democratic Change. Following the BDP's victory, opposition leaders challenged the results of the election.
The Republican Party was a centrist political party in Belarus. It supported the government of president Alexander Lukashenko.
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.
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.
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.
Phenyo Butale is a Motswana politician. He served as Member of Parliament of Botswana until 2019 under the Alliance for Progressives - AP. He is also communication specialist, broadcaster, researcher and academic.
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.
