Election Day in Botswana

Botswanans are heading to the polls today for a general election that could be the closest fought race since the country won independence in 1966.

The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has won every election in the country since then, but a challenge from a coalition of opposition parties could change all that.

The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), led by Gaborone lawyer Gideon Duma Boko, will be hoping their promise of an extra 100,000 jobs will be enough to unseat the incumbent Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Botswana is a country that is hailed for its stable transitions of power, managing to avoid the bloody independence wars and civil unrest that has plighted many of its neighbours.

Although in a country where more than 20 per cent of the 2.2 million population are currently unemployed, many people are hoping for change.

Dumelang Saleshando, the UDC’s vice-president, said the BDP is “about an economy which has excluded its citizens… If you go to construction, it’s a Chinese-dominated sector.  If you go to retail, it’s Asian-dominated… There isn’t a single industry in this country dominated by Botswana except the informal sector”.

In an unprecedented move, former president Ian Khama has severed ties with his old party, the BDP and Mr Masisi, over the reversal of many of his policies, such as overturning the ban on elephant trophy hunting.

More than 900,000 have registered to vote in the election today that is expected to go down to the wire.