Botswana President, Mokgweetsi Masisi Declared Winner of 2019 General Elections

The incumbent president of Botswana, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has been declared the winner of the 2019 general elections.

The announcement was made by Botswana’s Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane, today. 

Justice Terrence Rannowane announced that the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) won the election after securing 29 national assembly seats, representing 51% of the vote.

Citizens of Botswana voted on Wednesday to elect 57 national assemblies and 490 local government representatives, with the candidate of the winning party set to become president.

“Although vote counting is still ongoing, the numbers of parliament seats attained so far by the BDP obliges me to declare Mokgweetsi Masisi as the elected president of Botswana,” said Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane.

The main opposition, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), secured 13 seats while the Botswana Patriotic Front won three and the Alliance for Progressive only one, with 73% of the voting districts counted so far.

Masisi, 58, is standing on his record on tackling corruption, such as making the declaration of assets obligatory for public sector officials. He has also overseen a sharp reduction in bureaucracy for small businesses.

“We are going to … tackle the challenges the country is facing, improving the value chain of our national products, whether it’s in tourism or minerals,” Masisi said after voting on Wednesday in his home village of Moshupa.

“This will help us achieve our goal of migrating towards a high-income country.”

You will recall that voters in Botswana voted on Wednesday (October 23) in crucial general elections in one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

Over 900,000 cast their ballots across the country to elect members of the national assembly and by extension the president of the southern African nation.

The government declared October 23 – 25 as public holidays to allow for the full participation of citizens in the democratic process.

The vote caps a busy election year for the southern Africa region which has witnessed elections in South Africa, Malawi, DR Congo and earlier this month in Mozambique.

Credit: Reuters

Header Image Credit: Bloomberg