By Moses Magadza in Gaborone

The Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana, Honourable Dithapelo Keorapetse, has officially launched a landmark special journal documenting the country’s historic 2024 General Elections.

He described the publication as a vital national record of Botswana’s democratic journey and a fitting start to commemorations marking the nation’s 60th anniversary of independence.

The publication, Volume 57 of the Botswana Notes and Records (BNR), produced as a special issue on the 2024 elections through collaboration between the Botswana Society and the Botswana Elections Research Network, provides a scholarly account of the polls that culminated in Botswana’s first peaceful transfer of power between political parties since independence in 1966.

Speaker Keorapetse described the journal as a national milestone that preserves the lessons of Botswana’s democratic evolution for future generations. He said the decision by Parliament to co-host the launch reflected the significance of the 2024 elections in the country’s political history.

He noted that while the 2024 elections were historic for ushering in the country’s first electoral turnover, Botswana’s democratic strength had been built over decades of consistent adherence to constitutionalism, rule of law and respect for the will of the people.

He cautioned against viewing democratic consolidation as a single event. He argued instead that Botswana’s democratic maturity had been forged through a continuous process of integrity and accountability since independence.

According to the Speaker, the peaceful transition of power witnessed in November 2024 was “not an anomaly,” but rather the natural outcome of a political system grounded in democratic values and institutional resilience.

To illustrate this point, he recalled the “1984 Tshiamo ballot box incident”, when authorities discovered an anomaly in the electoral process and responded with transparency by calling a by-election, even at political cost.

That decision, he said, demonstrated Botswana’s long-standing commitment to fairness and public trust.

He reminded leaders and citizens alike that democracy requires constant care and active participation. Quoting Botswana’s founding President Sir Seretse Khama, he stressed that democratic institutions must be nurtured to endure.

“Democracy, like a small plant, needs nurturing,” he said and urged leaders to remain vigilant in safeguarding democratic principles and maintaining public confidence in governance.

He also highlighted the role of academia and civil society in deepening democratic practice and commended the Botswana Society and the Botswana Elections Research Network for producing a scholarly record that ensures the historic election is rigorously documented and critically analysed.

Turning to the country’s economic outlook, he warned that Botswana faces mounting fiscal pressures due to declining global diamond demand, which has historically underpinned national revenue.

He called on political leaders and stakeholders to act with discipline and unity in navigating the economic challenges ahead.

Speaking at the same occasion, Professor Jeremy Seekings, one of the editors of the journal, said it seeks to provide a rigorous, evidence-based understanding of one of the most consequential political transitions in Botswana’s history.

He stated that the work brought together an “outstanding group of scholars, most of whom are at the University of Botswana, one with the Centre for Public Integrity,” who contributed diverse expertise and analytical insights.

Professor Seekings explained that the project was conceived in anticipation of a highly competitive election cycle. Researchers expected significant political shifts but were nonetheless surprised by the scale of the outcome.

“It was widely anticipated, correctly, that the BDP would fail to retain a majority in parliament. We should acknowledge that we did not anticipate that national support for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) would drop to as little as 30 percent and that it would be relegated to being a minor party in parliament,” he said.

He added that scholars had also not foreseen the decisive victory of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), which secured an outright majority, nor the emergence of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) as the official opposition with fifteen parliamentary seats.

Professor Seekings said the journal emerged from the work of the Botswana Election Research Network, formed six months before the polls to coordinate independent research on the elections.

The network was inspired by a similar initiative in Zambia and sought to create a collective, non-partisan platform for studying electoral processes.

He paid tribute to the late Dr Sethunya Mosime, whose contributions helped energize the project, but who passed away shortly after the elections.

“The late Dr Sethunya Mosime injected additional energy and purpose. Tragically, she passed soon after the election. We miss her greatly,” he stated.

According to Professor Seekings, the publication draws on a wide range of data sources and research methods to provide a comprehensive account of the elections and their broader political implications.

The introductory article examines the official election results and explores how shifts in voter support interacted with Botswana’s electoral system. Scholars found that once support for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) fell below a critical threshold, the system amplified the party’s losses.

“Our analysis suggests that it would be rash to write off the BDP,” he said, noting that despite low voter turnout among its supporters, the party still secured about 30 percent of the national vote and retained significant representation in local councils.

Several articles rely on Afrobarometer survey data to analyse public opinion trends, including declining party identification among voters, attitudes toward electoral reforms, generational shifts in political preferences, and patterns of voter turnout, particularly among young people.

Another study examines the administration of elections by the Independent Electoral Commission. The journal also addresses gender disparities in political participation.

Professor Seekings noted that one striking feature of the 2024 elections was the limited number of women candidates across political parties.

One article demonstrates how social media commentary can contribute to the marginalization of women candidates.

He acknowledged that while the publication provides an extensive analysis of the elections, some gaps remain, including the role of the media in shaping campaign dynamics. Limited funding constrained the scope of field research, he noted.

The launch drew national and regional leaders, including the Chief Justice; Cabinet Ministers; Members of Parliament; diplomats; senior security personnel; and the Secretary General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Ms Boemo Sekgoma, among other eminent guests from government, academia and civil society.

-Moses Magadza is the Media and Communications Manager at the SADC PF.