The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) is a

social democratic 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 ...

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 ...

. Founded in 1998 as a result of a split from the

Botswana National Front The Botswana National Front (BNF) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. It was the main opposition party in Botswana from the 1969 elections until the 2024 elections. It is the largest component of the governing Umbrella for Demo ...

(BNF), the party attracted most of the BNF's sitting MPs due to a leadership dispute involving the BNF's leader, Kenneth Koma.

History

The BCP was formed by 11 sitting MPs and immediately became the official opposition in parliament. Party president

Michael Dingake Michael Kitso Dingake (11 February 1928 – 7 April 2024) was a Botswana political activist, writer and founding president of the Botswana Congress Party. Biography Education Dingake commenced his educational journey at Bobonong Primary Sch ...

served as Leader of the Opposition until parliament was dissolved in advance of the 1999 general elections. In the 1999 general elections, the BCP won 11.9% of the vote and retained only one seat (out of 40). In the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

, 30 October 2004, the party won 16.6% of the popular vote and one out of 57 seats. The sole BCP member of parliament was Dumelang Saleshando, the son of then BCP president, Gilson Saleshando. In 2009, the party contested the 2009 election in a pact with the Botswana Alliance Movement. However, talks to form an alliance with the Botswana National Front proved fruitless. The 2009 elections proved a decisive success for the party. The BCP won 19.2% of the popular vote and four parliamentary seats. Its 19.2% popular vote makes it the third largest political movement in Botswana. The BCP retained the Gaborone Central constituency and won the Chobe, Okavango, and Selebi Phikwe West constituencies from the BDP. Pact partner BAM won 2.3% of the vote and defeated the former Minister of Education and Skills Development, Jacob Nkate, in the Ngami constituency. Despite its losses to the BCP, the BDP won enough constituencies from the BNF to increase its overall representation by one seat. In May 2010, the BCP and the BAM merged under the BCP label with a new party symbol that incorporates elements of the parent parties. Following the merger, the BCP controlled five seats in the National Assembly. On 4 September 2010, the BCP contested by elections in Tonota North constituency with the support of the other three opposition parties, Botswana National Front (BNF), Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) and the BDP breakaway party Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). The BCP candidate increased her vote share slightly, to 36.1%, but lost to the ruling

Botswana Democratic Party The Botswana Democratic Party (Abbreviation, abbr. BDP, colloquially known as Domkrag) is a centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Botswana. From the country's 1965 Bechuanaland general election, inaugural election in 1965 until th ...

(BDP).The party recently lost a key member, Member of parliament for Okavango Hon Bagalatia Aaron, who defected to the ruling

Electoral history

National Assembly

References

External links

Botswana Congress Party website
{{Authority control Political parties in Botswana Political parties established in 1998 1998 establishments in Botswana Social democratic parties in Africa Socialism in Botswana