Parliament of Botswana
Palamente ya Botswana
12th Parliament
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
HousesNational Assembly
History
Founded1 March 1965 (1965-03-01)
Leadership
Mokgweetsi Masisi
since 1 April 2018
Phandu Skelemani
since 5 November 2019
Leader of the House
Slumber Tsogwane, BDP
since 5 November 2019
Leader of Opposition
Dithapelo Keorapetse, UDC
since 12 July 2022
Structure
Seats65
National Assembly political groups
Government (45)
  •   Botswana Democratic Party (38)
  •   Specially elected (6)[1]
  •   Ex-officio (2)[2]

Official opposition (18)

Other opposition (2)

Elections
First-past-the-post voting
Last National Assembly election
23 October 2019
Next National Assembly election
By October 2024
Meeting place
National Assembly Chamber
Gaborone
South-East District
Website
www.parliament.gov.bw

The Parliament of Botswana consists of the President and the National Assembly.[4] In contrast to other parliamentary systems, the Parliament elects the President directly (instead of having both a ceremonial President and a Prime Minister who has real authority as head of government) for a set five-year term of office. A president can only serve 2 full terms. The President is both Head of state and of government in Botswana's parliamentary republican system. Parliament of Botswana is the supreme legislative authority.[5] The President of Botswana is Mokgweetsi Masisi, who assumed the Presidency on 1 April 2018 after winning the 2019 general election and returning his Botswana Democratic Party with a majority of 19 seats in the 65 seat National Assembly.

There also exists a body known as Ntlo ya Dikgosi, (The House of Chiefs), which is an advisory body that does not form part of the Parliament.[6]

Botswana is one of only two nations on the African continent (with the other being Mauritius) to have achieved a clean record of free and fair elections since independence, having held 10 elections since 1966 without any serious incidents of corruption.[7]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Despite having left the UDC, the 7 MPs still sit under the UDC group in Parliament as a result of a ban on floor crossings.[3]
  2. ↑

References

  1. ↑ "Masisi's SEMPs A Tough Assignment". Mmegi. The Monitor. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "FAQs". parliament.gov.bw. Parliament of Botswana. Retrieved 22 July 2021. 2 are Ex-officios being the President and The Speaker
  3. ↑ Tlhankane, Mompati (5 June 2023). "UDC accused of destabilising BCP". Mmegi. Retrieved 6 June 2023. The BCP is currently stuck in the coalition because it cannot afford to trigger by-elections because of a new piece of legislation that prohibits Parliament floor crossing.
  4. ↑ Constitution of the Republic of Botswana, 1966
  5. ↑ "Parliament of Botswana". Parliament of Botswana. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  6. ↑ Proctor, J. H. (1968). "The House of Chiefs and the Political Development of Botswana". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 6 (1): 59–79. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00016670. ISSN 0022-278X. JSTOR 158677. S2CID 154486897.
  7. ↑ US State Department


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