Botswana General Election, 1979
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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 ...
on 20 October 1979. The result was a fourth successive landslide victory for the
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), which won 29 of the 32 elected seats, including two in which they were unopposed.Botswana: The October 1979 General Election
EISA
As of the 2019 general elections, this is the last election where the BDP received more than 70% of the popular vote.


Campaign

A total of 69 candidates contested the election. The BDP was the only party to run a full slate of 32 candidates, with 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 ...
putting forward 16 candidates, 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 ...
14 and the Botswana Independence Party five. There were also two independents. The BDP campaigned on opposition to
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in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
and a call for economic sanctions against
Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Zimbabwe Rhodesia (), alternatively known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, also informally known as Zimbabwe or Rhodesia, was a short-lived unrecognised sovereign state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980, though it lacked international recog ...
.Botswana
Inter-Parliamentary Union
Prior to the elections, the voter roll was completely revamped. The revision was accompanied by a vigorous radio and press campaign by the government to encourage registration. Although the number of registered voters increased by only 6,635 compared to the 1974 elections, this was deemed to be due to the 1974 voter roll having numerous duplications.


Results


Notes


References

{{Botswana elections Elections in Botswana
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Bostwana Election and referendum articles with incomplete results
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 ...