Placeholder canvas

Botswana ruling party leads in early election results

Date:

Botswana’s ruling party was leading in most local council constituencies as general election results trickled in Saturday, but opposition parties made a strong showing in the capital, the electoral commission said.

There had been delays in the counting of parliamentary ballots and no results had been received so far, the Independent Electoral Commission spokesman Osupile Maroba told AFP.

“We are hoping to start receiving parliamentary results from 57 poling districts by mid-morning,” he said.

Parliamentary results will also determine who will be president for the next five years, with incumbent Ian Khama of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) expected to win a second term.

“We are still on track for the release of final results by the end of the day,” said Maroba.

The IEC had verified results from 200 of the 490 local council voting districts, with the BDP winning six of the capital Gaborone’s 13 wards.

The newly formed Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), a coalition of parties contesting the elections for the first time, took four wards while the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) won three.

The election was seen as the most competitive for the BDP, which has ruled Botswana since independence from Britain in 1966, after a split in the party in 2010.

The landlocked, diamond-rich southern African country of two million people is seen as one of the continent’s strongest democracies, and electoral authorities said the Friday vote saw a high turnout of the 800,000 registered voters.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

Four Killed, Five Wounded In Stabbing Incident In North Illinois

Redd mentioned that not all of the victims had stab wounds and none of them were shot. She added by saying that they have a suspect in custody

Hope Everyone’s Rights Are Protected: UN On Kejriwal’s Arrest

Delhi CM Kejriwal was arrested by the ED(Enforcement Directorate) on March 21 in the Delhi liquor policy case, days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls

EAM Jaishankar Meets Ukrainian Counterpart Dmytro Kuleba In Delhi

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar on Friday...

Rajinikanth’s Thalaivar 171 First-Look Poster Drops

In a series of surprising announcements, fans were first...