General elections were held in Botswana on 8 September 1984.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p109 Although the result was a fifth successive landslide victory for the

Botswana Democratic Party The Botswana Democratic Party ( abbr. BDP) is the governing party in Botswana. Its chairman is the Vice-President of Botswana, Slumber Tsogwane, and its symbol is a lift jack. The party has ruled Botswana continuously since gaining independenc ...

, which won 29 of the 34 elected seats, the elections saw the opposition Botswana National Front make gains, winning both seats in the capital

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

and take control of all urban councils except

Selebi-Phikwe Selebi-Phikwe (also spelt ''Selibe Phikwe'') is a mining town located in the Central District of Botswana. It had a population of 42,488 in 2022. The town is an administrative district, separate from the surrounding Central District. Mining ...

in the simultaneous

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

Background

Following the death of President

Seretse Khama Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980. Born into an influential royal fam ...

in 1980, the 1984 elections were the first contested with

Quett Masire 'Ketumile Quett Joni Masire'', GCMG (24 July 1926 – 22 June 2017) was the second and longest-serving President of Botswana, in office from 1980 to 1998. He was honored with the Knighthood of the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint Ge ...

as leader of the BDP.

Electoral system

The 34 elected members of 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 repre ...

were elected in single-member constituencies, an increase of two from the 1979 elections. Following the 1981 census, constituencies were redrawn and

was split into two.

Campaign

A total of 82 candidates contested the election as party representatives, with the BDP being the only party to contest all 34 seats. The Botswana National Front ran in 27 constituencies, 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 ...

in 13, and the

Botswana Independence Party The Botswana Independence Party (BIP) was a political party in Botswana that existed from 1962 to 1994. The BIP was founded in 1962 by former members of the Botswana People's Party (BPP) and was led by Motsamai Mpho. During its existence, the ...

and Botswana Progressive Union in four.Botswana: The September 1984 General Election
EISA The campaign was focussed on economic issues linked to the effect on the diamond industry of droughts and recession.Botswana
IPU

Results

Aftermath

Following the elections, Botswana National Front co-leader

Kenneth Koma Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a by ...

went to court to have the result in the

Gaborone South Gaborone South is a constituency in Gaborone City represented in the National Assembly of Botswana since 2019 by Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, a BDP MP. Constituency profile The constituency was originally created in 1984, following the division o ...

constituency overturned; Koma had lost to

Vice-President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Peter Mmusi Peter Simako Otlaadisang Mmusi (born 16 May 1929, died October 1994) was the Vice-President of Botswana from 3 January 1983 until 1992. He also served as the Minister of Finance from 1980 to 1989, and as the Minister of Local Government and Lands ...

, but an unopened ballot box was discovered after the final count. The High Court annulled the result and a by-election was held in December in which Koma defeated Mmusi.

References

{{Botswana elections Elections in Botswana

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

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

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results