Botswana’s president concedes defeat in shock election outcome

‘I will respectfully step aside,’ President Mokgweetsi Masisi said.

Botswana’s president conceded defeat in this week’s parliamentary elections, a shock outcome that ends his party’s 58-year grip on power in the diamond-rich southern African nation.

“I will respectfully step aside,” President Mokgweetsi Masisi said in a media briefing broadcast on state television in the capital, Gaborone, on Friday. “I wish to congratulate the opposition. I respect the will of the people.”

Partial results released by early Friday showed opposition parties had won 37 of the seats in Botswana’s 61-seat legislature and Masisi’s Botswana Democratic Party just three. The BDP had ruled Botswana since the country gained independence from Britain in 1966 and held 38 seats in the previous parliament.

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Botswana is the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by value, with almost all of its gems mined by Debswana — which is jointly owned by the government and De Beers. Global diamond sales have been impacted by oversupply, poor demand from the crucial Chinese market and pressures from lab-grown gems.

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