The results of Botswana’s general elections were released this Friday, October 25, 2019. The outgoing president will seek a new five-year term as the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) won a majority of the 57 seats in parliament. The opposition totally disputes these results and speaks of “massive fraud.”
After two days of counting, Botswana’s 58-year-old incumbent Mokgweetsi Masisi has been re-elected as head of the country for the next five years. The main opposition party, the Coalition for Democratic Change (UCD) believes that these results do not reflect the popular will is a scandal and proven fraud.
However, the observation commission finds that these elections are transparent and conducted in a peaceful atmosphere. Indeed, in its preliminary report, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) noted no malfunction in the holding of this election and no major incident was reported.
Mokgweetsi Masisi was head of state since April 2018 with the resignation of President Ian Khama according to the constitution which stipulates that the number of mandates is limited to two. Despite his harsh criticism of his successor, Masisi managed to maintain the confidence of the Batswana people.
Remember that the Democratic Party of Botswana (BPD) has been in power since the independence of the country in 1966.
