Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) is the governing party in Botswana. Its chairman is the vice president of Botswana, Slumber Tsogwane. The party has ruled Botswana continuously since gaining independence in 1966. The BDP was primarily shaped by two of its founders, Sir Seretse Khama and Quett Ketumile Masire.

In November 1961, Seretse Khama and other delegates to the African Advisory Council founded the party in Lobatse. Within the next few months, Masire and Khama drafted a party constitution and then held the party’s first public meeting in Gaborone on 28 February 1962. Following the meeting, the BDP was organized in the northern sections of the country by Seretse Khama, Amos Dambe, Archelaus Tsoebebe , and James G. Haskins. The party secretary, Quett Masire, primarily organized the southern and western regions. Masire also began publishing the party newspaper, Therisanyo/Consultation, in 1963, building on his past journalistic experiences. As a result of effective propaganda and organizing across the entire country, the BDP won a landslide in the 1965 election, taking 28 out of 31 seats. During the run-up to independence in 1966, Khama and Masire formed a formidable leadership team. Not only did they agree on major policy decisions, but they also identified and recruited talent into the party and government.

With Seretse Khama as President and Quett Masire as vice-president, Botswana prospered. Rapid economic growth and a peaceful, democratic society were the result. For the next three decades, the BDP dominated the National Assembly, facing at most nine opposition MPs. Prior to the introduction of primary elections in 1998, the BDP leadership maintained tight control over candidate selection and party financing. Since then, the primary system known as “buleladitswe” combined with ongoing factional strife, has led to a loss of overall cohesion and increased competition for positions

Ian Khama, the son of former president Sir Seretse Khama, joined the party ahead of the 1999 general elections. On 1 April 2008, Ian Khama ascended to the presidency as the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana and relinquished his chairmanship of the Botswana Democratic Party. The 2014 election resulted in the BDP taking 37 parliamentary seats, a decrease from the previous election in 2009, but still a majority in the 57-seat chamber and 20 seats more than the next largest party. As a result, President Khama retained his position as president for a second five-year term. The current chairman of the Botswana Democratic Party is Slumber Tsogwane.