Parliament of Botswana
The Parliament of Botswana consists of the President and the National Assembly.[3] In contrast to other parliamentary systems, the Parliament elects the President directly (instead of having both a ceremonial President and a Prime Minister who has real authority as head of government) for a set five-year term of office. A president can only serve 2 full terms. The President is both Head of state and of government in Botswana's parliamentary republican system. Parliament of Botswana is the supreme legislative authority.[4] The President of Botswana is Mokgweetsi Masisi, who assumed the Presidency on 1 April 2018 after winning the 2019 general election and returning his Botswana Democratic Party with a majority of 19 seats in the 65 seat National Assembly.
Parliament of Botswana Palamente ya Botswana | |
|---|---|
| 12th Parliament | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | National Assembly |
| History | |
| Founded | 1 March 1965 |
| Leadership | |
Mokgweetsi Masisi since 1 April 2018 | |
Phandu Skelemani since 5 November 2019 | |
Leader of the House | |
Leader of Opposition | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 65 |
 | |
National Assembly political groups | Government (46)
Official opposition (18) Other opposition (1) |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post voting | |
National Assembly last election | 23 October 2019 |
National Assembly next election | No later than October 2024 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| National Assembly Chamber Gaborone South-East District | |
| Website | |
| www | |
|
|---|
| Constitution |
There also exists a body known as Ntlo ya Dikgosi, (The House of Chiefs), which is an advisory body that does not form part of the Parliament.[5]
Botswana is one of only two nations on the African continent (with the other being Mauritius) to have achieved a clean record of free and fair elections since independence, having held 10 elections since 1966 without any serious incidents of corruption.[6]
References
- "Masisi's SEMPs A Tough Assignment". Mmegi. The Monitor. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
- "FAQs". parliament.gov.bw. Parliament of Botswana. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
- Constitution of the Republic of Botswana, 1966
- "Parliament of Botswana". Parliament of Botswana. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Proctor, J. H. (1968). "The House of Chiefs and the Political Development of Botswana". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 6 (1): 59–79. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00016670. ISSN 0022-278X. JSTOR 158677. S2CID 154486897.
- US State Department