The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is an

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political parties in

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 ...

History

The UDC was founded in November 2012 by members from various opposition parties, including the

BPP BPP may refer to: Education * BPP Holdings, a holding company based in the United Kingdom * BPP Law School, a law school based in the United Kingdom and a constituent school of BPP University * BPP University, a private university based in the ...

and BMD. They rallied together in the run-up to the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

by the

Botswana National Front The Botswana National Front (BNF) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. It has been the main opposition party in Botswana since the 1969 elections. The party achieved its greatest electoral success in the 1994 elections, when it ...

(BNF), the

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 ...

and 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 ...

with the aim of uniting the opposition in the

. In February 2017 the

Botswana Congress Party The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) is a political party in Botswana. 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 w ...

, which contested the 2014 elections independently, joined the coalition. The coalition is currently led by

Duma Boko Adv. Duma Gideon Boko is a Motswana politician. He is a lawyer and jurist. He is the president of the main opposition party in Botswana and Botswana National Front (BNF). Adv Duma Boko & Dumelang Saleshando UDC campaigned in the 2019 electio ...

from the BNF and plans to contest the 2019 general election jointly, standing a single opposition candidate in each constituency against 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 ...

. The organization of the opposition parties presented an unprecedented challenge to the longtime-ruling BDP, but the BDP was victorious in elections held on October 24, 2014. Their vote share, which garnered 37 seats, allowed them to maintain a majority in the National Assembly, although it won fewer seats than it had in previous elections. The UDC won 17 seats and the Botswana Congress Party won 3 seats.

Ian Khama Seretse Khama Ian Khama (born 27 February 1953) is a Botswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence ...

was easily reelected by the legislative body to another term as president. In October 2018, the BMD was expelled from the coalition after it refused to forgo contesting constituencies that had originally been allocated to it.Botswana: Lowest levels of registration undermine elections
APA News, 14 January 2019 After the

2019 Botswana general election General elections were held in Botswana on 23 October 2019 to elect MPs and local government councillors. Despite a high profile split in the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in May 2019 when former President Ian Khama left the party and ...

charged there were “massive electoral discrepancies” and said he wanted to challenge the election in court. Official results show the BDP winning 38 of 57 constituencies.

Electoral history

National Assembly elections

References

{{Authority control Political party alliances in Botswana Political parties established in 2012 2012 establishments in Botswana