KHAMA: Man with a hat concedes defeat in Botswana elections

Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi conceded defeat today

Gabarone, Botswana | THE INDEPENDENT & AGENCIES |   President Mokgweetsi Masisi has conceded defeat after preliminary results showed his ruling Botswana Democratic party lost its parliamentary majority in this week’s election.

“I wish to congratulate the opposition on their victory and concede the election,” the 63-year-old told reporters at a press conference.

Preliminary results show three opposition parties had together amassed at least 31 of 61 seats in the national legislature at Wednesday’s polls.

Masisi’s party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), has been in power since independence in 1966.

“I will respectfully step aside and participate in a smooth transition process ahead of inauguration,” Masisi said in a press conference on Friday.

Botswanans on Wednesday peacefully headed to polling stations to cast their ballots for new parliamentarians and local authorities.

This was a month after Botswana’s former President Ian Khama unexpectedly returned to the country after three years of self-imposed exile, appearing in court to face charges, including money laundering and owning illegal firearms.

The 71-year-old had only recently claimed there was a plot to poison him if he set foot on home soil.

The government called those allegations “outrageous”.

Supporters had last month chanted “the general is back” as Khama left the courthouse in the capital, Gaborone.

“We were taken by surprise,” said state prosecutor Ambrose Mubika of Khama’s decision to appear.

Ian Khama led Botswana for 10 years until 2018.

He did not stand in this year’s election, in which his now bitter rival President Mokgweetsi Masisi was seeking a second term.

About 1.038 million people registered to vote in the 13th post-independence general elections.

According to the southern African country’s electoral law, the polling will determine 61 members of the National Assembly and 609 local councilors, with the party that holds at least 31 parliament seats to be declared as the winner.

The candidates were Mokgweetsi Masisi, Botswana’s incumbent president and leader of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party, Masisi’s main opponent, Duma Boko of the Umbrella for Democratic Change and Dumelang Saleshando of the Botswana Congress Party and Mephato Reatile of the Botswana Patriotic Front.

Botswana’s Independent Electoral Commission Spokesperson Osupile Maroba told journalists on election day in Gaborone that a few polling stations did not open on time.

“But the majority of polling stations, almost 99 percent of the more than 1,800 of them, opened well in time,” he said.

Polling stations closed at 7 p.m., after which the counting of votes will immediately begin, according to the election officials.  ■

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

Botswana’s President Masisi fooled his master Ian Khama

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/opinion/columnists/owino-botswana-s-president-masisi-fooled-his-master-ian-khama-1423146

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