Botswana heads to Polls as the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) seeks to extends it's decades of dominance.
Incumbent 63-year-old President Masisi is taking one more, final, swing at the presidency. He is the favourite to win because of his incumbency and the BDP’s 58 years of dominance.
The party is increasingly weakening from internal frictions but it still has a strong support base in the rural population and the Tswana-majority ethnic group.
Masisi was vice president to former Botswana President Ian Khama who, upon the expiration of his term, handpicked Masisi in 2018.
However, the two politicians fell out once Masisi took office, leading to Khama exiting the party along with his loyalists. Khama accused Masisi of betrayal for undoing his policies, including lifting a ban on trophy and elephant hunting in the country.
Masisi ran as president in the 2019 election and won. His term has been shadowed by his tussle with Khama, which is fracturing the BDP internally as factions emerge. A global downturn in the price of diamonds in recent years has also reflected badly on the president, with many blaming him for rising inflation and unemployment at home.
The landlocked southern African country runs an indirect election system: Voters will elect parliament members. The head of the governing party at the end of the vote count is then appointed as president for the next five years.
Voters will elect 61 members of the National Assembly and 609 local council seats in the 16 local authorities across the country. Legislators are elected through a first-past-the-vote or preferential system.
In turn, the political party with the most seats will elect the president.
Botswana is a multi-party state, but the governing Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has dominated the polls since 1969. The party secured 38 of 57 seats in the 2019 general election and is set to sweep.
According to a JULISHA correspondent, turnout in Botswana's national election appears to be high, as voters head to the polls.
Botswana's citizens have been queuing up at polling stations in the country's different constituencies, mainly in the capital Gaborone, since 5am. The first polling stations opened at 6.30am and there has been a particularly large turnout since this morning.
Today's vote sees President Mokgweetsi Masisi seeking a second and final term in office, his main challenger is Duma Boko of the Umbrella for Democratic Change party.
According to the electoral commission, voting will end at 8pm. Counting will then begin at around 10pm, with the final results expected within 24 hours, in other words, by Friday at the latest.
