RULING PARTY SWEEPS TO VICTORY IN BOTSWANA

by Hugh McCullum

Three Botswana Defence Force Strikemaster jet fighters swooped low over the capital on 20 October marking the inauguration of Festus Mogae as third president of this small but wealthy southern African nation which has practiced multi-party democracy since 1966 when it became independent.

As the jets roared by the central mall at a low altitude, some Batswana were worried for a moment that another Air Botswana tragedy was in the making. Just over a week before the ceremony, a mentally unstable pilot buzzed the capital for an hour before crashing his plane at the airport, wiping out all but one of the national carrier's fleet.

The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) swept 33 of 40 seats in the nation's Parliament,
almost wiping out the opposition, which had gone into the 16 October election holding 13 seats. The historical opposition party, the Botswana National Front (BNF) picked up six seats, four more than they had when Parliament was dissolved, and the breakaway Botswana Congress Party (BCP) was reduced to a single seat, its leader defeated and 10 of its MPs sent to political oblivion. It had split from the BNF in 1998 and voters seemed set to punish them.

Mogae has now firmer control of the ruling party than ever and a cabinet of fresh faces can be expected. The BCP, trying to put the best spin on its dramatic reversal, said it would regroup, stand behind its leader Mike Dingake and would never rejoin the BNF. Dr. Kenneth Koma, returning to Parliament as opposition leader, was equally adamant that BCP was a spent
force and could only return to a unified opposition on an individual basis.

Two other smaller parties were never in the picture.

Final results came in late on the night of 18 October as the Independent Electoral Commission was testing its new procedures for the first time. Both voting and counting were extremely slow. Voters used ballots for the first time instead of coloured discs, which resulted in long queues on a very hot Saturday (Oct. 16). A centralised system of counting also caused even longer delays due to the widespread boundaries of many rural constituencies.

While IEC officials were still poring over their figures, there were unconfirmed reports of widespread voter apathy and spoiled ballots due to the new system, which, politicians said, may result in court challenges where margins of victory or loss were small. The IEC is also still not prepared to make an official statement of the percentage of eligible, registered voters who cast ballots but it is already known that only 52 percent of 900,000 eligible voters registered with the IEC.

The Electoral Commissions Forum of the SADC countries issued a press release saying that the election was managed competently "despite the fact that the ballot paper system, being used for the first time, caused some delays. In addition the centralised counting system further delayed the exercise."

The Forum, which is an association of all electoral management bodies from SADC countries, was an official observer. The five-member team was led by Sekara Sam Mafisa, chair of the Lesotho Independent Electoral Commission.

"The electoral process and its outcome reflect the will of the people of Botswana. The mission congratulates them for a successful election," the statement said.

Many potential voters, especially those under 21 who were newly eligible to vote, ignored the whole campaign which, despite high unemployment, poverty, environmental and gender problems and a rampaging HIV/Aids pandemic, centred mainly around the internecine battles of the opposition while Mogae, campaigning vigorously with his high-profile vice-president Ian Khama, son of the country's founder president Sir Seretse Khama, kept to the high road and successfully sold the government's development programme.

The ruling party scored a significant breakthrough, winning Gaborone Central constituency from Dingake who ran a poor third. It is the first time the BDP has held a seat in Gaborone in 15 years. It also consolidated its traditional rural vote and took three more urban seats in Francistown,
Lobatse and Selebi-Phikwe.

Six BDP women were elected MPs and Mogae is expected to double their number to four in his 16-member cabinet. No women were elected as opposition MPs. (SARDC).

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