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The political party that ruled diamond-rich Botswana, one of Africa’s richest and most stable countries, has lost power for the first time in almost 60 years.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi, 63, conceded defeat on Friday ahead of the final tally of Wednesday’s general election and urged supporters of his Botswana Democratic Party to remain calm, saying: “I hope for a smooth administration ahead of the inauguration. “We support the transition process,” he said.
The left-wing opposition party Umbrella for Democratic Change, led by Harvard-educated human rights lawyer Duma Boko, has secured 25 of the 61 seats and is expected to replace the long-ruling BDP. It became. Members of Congress elect the president.
Boko, 54, has not made any public statements, but his Wikipedia entry has already been updated to refer to him as the “president-elect.”
Botswana, with a population of 2.5 million and a GDP per capita of more than $7,000 at market prices, is considered one of the best-run countries on the African continent, but Masisi’s presidential term has been marred by economic stagnation and allegations of corruption and mismanagement. I was doing it.
The economy has been hit by a decline in global demand for diamonds, which account for four-fifths of the country’s exports and have been hurt by competition from synthetic stones. Last year’s GDP growth rate fell to 2.7% from 5.5% in 2022. At least one in four people are unemployed.
“The economy is struggling, in part due to the fall in the price of natural diamonds due to the lab-grown diamond explosion,” said Peter Fabricius, a consultant at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.
Botswana is credited with successfully managing its diamond industry and avoiding the resource curse by negotiating favorable deals with De Beers, which controls the industry. However, it has struggled to diversify its economy.
Botswana’s transition comes at a critical time for the world’s largest diamond business, as Anglo American prepares to sell De Beers. This is an important but difficult part of the disposal plan, which will depend on good relations with the Botswana government, as Anglo rejected a £39bn takeover offer from BHP.
Botswana owns 15% of De Beers, and De Beers sources stone from the country through a joint venture with the Debswana government. In its election manifesto, the UDC pledged to double economic growth within five years, establish a new sovereign wealth fund for Botswana and develop non-diamond exports.
The ruling BDP, which won power in the first elections after independence in 1966, has become more unstable in recent years, particularly after Masisi was elected in 2018.
Mr. Ian Khama, the son of the first president, went through a rough patch with Mr. Masisi and now supports the Botswana Patriotic Front, which broke away.
The BDP is the most powerful political party that has been on the wobble recently. In Mozambique, the ruling Frelimo Liberation Party resorted to widespread fraud to secure victory over resurgent opposition leader Venancio Mondlane.
And in South Africa, the African National Congress, which had dominated power since free elections in 1994, fell to 40% of the vote in May polls, forcing it to form a coalition with its ideological rival, the Democratic Alliance.
“It looks like there’s some kind of epidemic,” Fabricius said. “In many of these countries, economic stagnation has led to a decline in the quality of life, and young people are not accepting it. Each country is encouraging others.”
