Politics of Botswana

Politics of Botswana
Politics of Botswana
	Coat of arms of Botswana
Polity type	Unitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency
Constitution	Constitution of Botswana
Legislative branch
Name	Parliament of Botswana
Type	Unicameral with an advisory body
Meeting place	National Assembly Building,; Gaborone
Presiding officer	Dithapelo Keorapetse, Speaker
Executive branch
	Head of state and government
Title	President
Currently	Duma Boko
Appointer	National Assembly
	Cabinet
Name	Cabinet of Botswana
Current cabinet	Boko cabinet
Leader	President
Deputy leader	Vice-President
Appointer	President
Ministries	18
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary of Botswana
	High Court
Chief judge	Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe
	Court of Appeal
Chief judge	Tebogo Tau

Botswana is a parliamentary republic in which the president of Botswana is both head of state and head of government. The nation's politics are based heavily on the Westminster system and on traditional Setswana chiefdom. The legislature is made up of the unicameral National Assembly and the advisory body of tribal chiefs, the Ntlo ya Dikgosi. The National Assembly chooses the president, but once in office the president has significant authority over the legislature with only limited separation of powers.

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) ruled as the dominant party from independence in 1966 until its defeat at the 2024 Botswana general election. Elections are considered free and fair by observers.

During the country's 58-year long dominance of the BDP, political opposition was mostly fragmented and faced institutional challenges such as the first-past-the-post voting system and the lack of state-funded party funding. Thus several opposition parties existed and regularly held a small number of seats in the National Assembly for much of that period. These were mainly the Botswana National Front (BNF) and the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). The BNF-led Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) was formed in 2012 as an electoral alliance of opposition parties to consolidate the opposition vote in one political formation, the UDC was elected in 2024, thus ending the BDP's predominance.

Botswana achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. The BDP led by Seretse Khama formed the first government and continued winning elections every five years. Quett Masire became president following Khama's death in 1980 and the BDP was enveloped by factionalism in the 1990s. This factionalism persisted through the presidencies of Festus Mogae from 1998 to 2008 and Ian Khama from 2008 to 2018. The liberal Botswana Movement for Democracy was formed in 2010 to challenge what they saw as Khama's increasing authoritarian tendencies and was the BDP's first major splinter party. Khama's successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, became president in 2018 and quickly entered into a strong political rivalry with Khama, which came to redefine the politics in Botswana over the following years.

Botswana has an above average human rights record and it is recognised by human rights groups as one of the strongest democracies in Africa. Economic policy in Botswana revolves around the nation's lucrative diamond industry, which makes up a significant portion of the economy. The country has been praised as an economic success as it pursued free market policies in the 20th century and it has since shifted to more redistributive economic policy. Wealth inequality remains high and welfare programs are limited and means-based, but public services and infrastructure receive strong funding. Foreign policy in Botswana has historically emphasised multilateralism, non-alignment and realpolitik. Apartheid South Africa was the nation's primary foreign policy concern until 1994 and then instability in Zimbabwe thereafter.