National Assembly (Botswana)

National Assembly
11th Parliament
Type
Type
History
Founded 1966
New session started
 29 October 2014 (2014-10-29)
Leadership
Speaker
Deputy Speaker
Kagiso Molatlhegi, BDP
Leader of the Opposition
Structure
Seats 63
Political groups
  BDP: 42 seats
  UDC: 17 seats
  BCP: 2 seats

  Ex officio: 2 seats

Length of term
 5 years
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
 24 October 2014
Meeting place
Gaborone, Botswana
Website
www.parliament.gov.bw
Botswana
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Botswana
Constitution

The National Assembly is the legislature Botswana's unicameral Parliament. It is advised by the Ntlo ya Dikgosi (Tswana for "House of Chiefs"), which is not a house of Parliament.

The current National Assembly, formed following elections held on 16 October 2009, has a total of 63 members. 57 members are directly elected in single member constituencies using the simple-majority (or First-past-the-post) system for a term of five years. Four members are co-opted (by secret ballot of the rest of the Assembly) while the remaining two (the President and Attorney-general) are ex officio.

Current composition

Party Seats
Botswana Democratic Party 38
Specially elected MPs 4
President of Botswana 1
Attorney General 1
Botswana Congress Party 2
Umbrella for Democratic Change 17
Total
63

Previous National Assembly election results

Political Party Election Year
1965 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) 28 24 27 29 29 31 27 33 44 45
Botswana National Front (BNF) - 03 02 02 04 03 13 06 12 06
Botswana People's Party (BPP) 03 03 02 01 01 - - - - -
Botswana Independence Party (BIP) - 01 01 - - - - - - -
Botswana Congress Party (BCP) - - - - - - - 01 01 04
Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) - - - - - - - - - 01
Independents - - - - - - - - - 01
Total 31 31 32 32 34 34 40 40 57 57

Note: In the pre-independence 1965 election, the Botswana Democratic Party was known as the Bechuanaland Democratic party and the Botswana People's Party was known as the Bechuanaland People's Party.

Despite being a one party dominant state since independence, all elections held in the country have been considered democratic, free, and fair.

See also

Coordinates: 24°39′31″S 25°54′38″E / 24.65861°S 25.91056°E / -24.65861; 25.91056

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