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Botswana’s ruling party has won majority seats in the country’s parliament, putting President Ian Khama at the helm for a second five-year term.
High Court Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo said in a statement yesterday that Khama “has been re-elected as the President of the Republic after his political party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) garnered at least 29 of the 57 parliamentary seats” at Friday’s general election.But the opposition coalition managed to reduce the majority of Khama’s party, which has ruled the diamond-producing nation since independence from Britain 48 years ago.
Observer missions from Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the Commonwealth and the European Union were expected to report officially on the vote later.
South Africa’s High Commissioner to Gaborone, Mdu Lembede, one of the observers, told a local news agency that the polls were “peaceful”.
The landlocked, diamond-rich southern African country of two million people is seen as one of the continent’s strongest democracies, and Friday’s vote saw a high turnout of the 800,000 registered voters.
Khama, 61, is the son of the country’s first president, Seretse Khama. He is also a traditional chief of the Bangwato clan and counts on strong rural support.
But he faced a challenge in urban areas, where opposition parties have made inroads since the formation in 2010 of a breakaway party, the Botswana Movement for Democracy, which is now part of an umbrella opposition coalition known as UDC. – AFP.
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