Botswana: Khama Retains Presidency

UNCLAS GABORONE 000815 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/S, DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM BC SUBJECT: Botswana: Khama Retains Presidency REF: A) GABORONE 799 B) GABORONE 786 ¶1. Botswana held its tenth general election on Friday October 16. According to observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC),who issued a preliminary statement October 18, the polls were "credible, peaceful, free, and fair." Diplomatic observers, including three teams from the U.S. Embassy, concurred with this assessment. Ballots for the Parliamentary election were counted in each constituency, with results trickling in throughout the day October 17 and into October 18. However, late on October 17 the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had won more than 29 Parliamentary seats, and Chief Justice Julian Nganunu officially announced that the BDP presidential candidate, incumbent Ian Khama, has been elected President. (Note: As explained reftels, Botswana's President is not directly elected. If a party obtains more than 50% of Parliamentary seats, the Chief Justice certifies that party's presidential candidate as the winner. End Note.) ¶2. Botswana's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) held a press conference on October 18 and announced the final Parliamentary results. The BDP won 45 Parliamentary seats, while the Botswana National Front (BNF) took 6 seats, and the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and its partner the Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) took 5 constituencies, with the final one Parliamentary seat going to an independent candidate. According to the IEC, about 76% of registered voters (554,586 people) cast ballots on October 16. The BDP received 290,099 total Parliamentary votes (53% of valid votes), while BNF obtained 119,509 (22%),and the BCP/BAM alliance garnered 116,689 (21%). The 14 independent candidates together obtained 10,464 votes (2%),with the remaining two percent of votes going to small parties which obtained no Parliamentary seats. ¶3. Media reports indicate that President Khama will be sworn-in on Tuesday October 20. As reported reftels, we expect the inauguration to be relatively small and that the resident heads of diplomatic missions will be invited to represent their governments. Post will send additional analysis of the election results septel. NOLAN