Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has admitted defeat on Friday after preliminary results revealed his party lost the parliamentary majority by an overwhelming majority in this week’s election. This loss has also marked the ruling party’s end to nearly six decades in power.
The opposition party, Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) had given Masisi a significant lead, putting its leader, lawyer Duma Boko, on track to win the presidency.
Meanwhile, political analysts have attributed the mounting socio-economic grievances, especially among the youths as the downfall of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which has since governed the small southern African state since it gained independence from Britain in 1966.
Botswana majorly depends on its diamonds for income, but a decline in the global diamond market caused economic growth to plunge this year, with unemployment rising to 28%.
State television had revealed that based on the results from 41 of the 61 constituencies available, the UDC had won 26 seats in parliament while the BDP only managed to clinch three.
Note that it is the members of parliament that elect the president.
The sitting president, Boko, has not yet spoken publicly since the result was announced but he had campaigned on issues such as raising the minimum wage and increasing social grants.
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has become the second long-ruling party in southern Africa to suffer a major defeat at the polls this year, after South Africa’s African National Congress also lost its parliamentary majority after staying 30 years in power.
Meanwhile, Namibia will hold its elections later in November and the ruling SWAPO party, another long-ruling party which has governed since 1990, is also expected to face fierce competition.
