The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country'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 ( 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 ...

. The BCP was founded in 1998 in a split from the Botswana National Front, with most of the BNF's sitting Members of Parliament joining the new party after a leadership dispute with

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 ...

. MPs who helped found the party included Michael Dingake, Gilson Saleshando, Paul Rantao, Maitshwarelo Dabutha, Isaac Mabiletsa and Vain Mamela. The BCP's first national conference was held in April 1999, before the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

in October 1999. From 1998 to 2001 the BCP was led by Michael Dingake. In 2001 Otlaadisa Koosaletse became its leader. In 2005 Gilson Saleshando defeated Koosaletse to lead the party. It is affiliated with the New Democratic Front and the Social Democratic Party.

History

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

, 30 October 2004, the party won 16.6% of the popular vote and 1 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 The Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM) was a progressive political party in Botswana, led by Ephraim Lepetu Setshwaelo. Prior to the 2009 election the party entered into an electoral pact with the Botswana Congress Party. In the 2009 elections t ...

. 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 4 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 5 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 The Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) is an opposition political party in Botswana established in 2010 by MPs and other politicians who split from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party over differences with Ian Khama, the BDP's leader and Pres ...

(BMD). The BCP candidate increased her vote share slightly, to 36.1%, but lost to the ruling

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 ...

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

Notable members

* Michael Dingake * Gilson Saleshando *

Dumelang Saleshando Dumelang Saleshando is a politician from Botswana who served as the Leader of the Opposition of Botswana from 2019-2022. He was replaced by Dithapelo Keorapetse. Early life and education Saleshando was born on 13 September 1971, is the firstbor ...

* Taolo Lucas *

Ephraim Setshwaelo Ephraim (; he, ''ʾEp̄rayīm'', in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath. Asenath was an Ancient Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughte ...

* Bagalatia Aarone * Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang * Motsei Madisa-Rapelana * Dick Bayford * Dithapelo Keorapetse

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