# 2019 Botswana general election (23 October 2019)

URL: https://allhistories.com/botswana/timeline/2019-2019-botswana-general-election
Location: Gaborone, Botswana
Themes: main-event

Botswana held general and local elections on 23 October 2019 (Wikipedia's 2019 year article says 22 October). The BDP won 38 of the 57 elected seats with 52.65% of the vote, a gain of one seat. The UDC took 15 seats with 35.88%, the new Botswana Patriotic Front three with 4.41% and the Alliance for Progressives one. Turnout was about 84%. The election followed the split between the president and his predecessor, Ian Khama, who had left the BDP in May and backed the BPF. Despite this, the BDP increased its share. The opposition was fragmented: the AP had broken away from the UDC in 2017 and the BMD was expelled in October 2018. The African Union and SADC observers called the poll free and fair but criticised the lack of indelible ink and translucent ballot boxes. In November UDC leader Duma Boko alleged massive discrepancies and went to court. The High Court dismissed the case in December, and in late January 2020 the Court of Appeal ruled it lacked jurisdiction to hear the petitions. At this point in the timeline (2019), Mokgweetsi Masisi (1 April 2018 – 1 November 2024) was President of Botswana, both head of state and head of government.

## Why it matters
It confirmed the ruling party's strength just five years before it lost power and showed the limits of the Khama split.

Ruler at the Time: [Mokgweetsi Masisi](https://allhistories.com/botswana/rulers/mokgweetsi-masisi-2018)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 2019 Botswana general election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Botswana_general_election)
- [Wikipedia — 2019 in Botswana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_in_Botswana)