The Botswana Independence Party (BIP) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

that existed from 1962 to 1994. The BIP was founded in 1962 by former members of the

Botswana People's Party The Botswana People's Party (BPP), originally the Bechuanaland People's Party, is a political party in Botswana formed in December 1960 during the colonial era. As a result of disappointment with the Legislative Council, under the leadership of ...

(BPP) and was led by Motsamai Mpho. During its existence, the BIP played the role of a minor opposition party. The party participated in five national elections (1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, and 1989), but managed to gain representation in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

only twice (1969 and 1974), both times winning only one seat. In 1994, the BIP merged with the Botswana Freedom Party (BFP) to form the Independence Freedom Party (IFP) under the leadership of Motsamai Mpho. The IFP won only 3% of the vote and no seats in elections held on 15 October 1994. Soon after, the IFP ceased to exist. The party advocated for

pan-africanism Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atla ...

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

centrism Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

and later for

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

D. Sebudubudu, B. Z Osei-Hwedie: In permanent opposition: Botswana's other political parties , in: South African Journal of International Affairs 17(1):85-102 , April 2010, p. 100: "leftist until the emergence of neoliberalism"

Electoral results

References

Defunct political parties in Botswana {{Botswana-party-stub