Parliament of Botswana Palamente ya Botswana | |
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12th Parliament | |
Type | |
Type | |
Houses | National Assembly |
History | |
Founded | 1 March 1965 |
Leadership | |
Mokgweetsi Masisi since 1 April 2018 | |
Phandu Skelemani since 5 November 2019 | |
Leader of the House | |
Leader of Opposition | |
Structure | |
Seats | 65 |
National Assembly political groups | Government (45)
Other opposition (12)
|
Elections | |
First-past-the-post voting | |
Last
National Assembly election | 23 October 2019 |
Next
National Assembly election | By October 2024 |
Meeting place | |
National Assembly Chamber Gaborone South-East District | |
Website | |
www |
Constitution |
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The Parliament of Botswana consists of the President and the National Assembly. [7] In contrast to other parliamentary systems, the Parliament elects the President directly (instead of having both a ceremonial President and a Prime Minister who has real authority as head of government) for a set five-year term of office. A president can only serve 2 full terms. The President is both Head of state and of government in Botswana's parliamentary republican system. Parliament of Botswana is the supreme legislative authority. [8] The President of Botswana is Mokgweetsi Masisi, who assumed the Presidency on 1 April 2018. In October 2019, the 2019 general election was held which saw the return of the Botswana Democratic Party to the power with a majority of 19 seats in the 65 seat National Assembly.
There also exists a body known as Ntlo ya Dikgosi, (The House of Chiefs), which is an advisory body that does not form part of the Parliament. [9]
Botswana is one of only two nations on the African continent (with the other being Mauritius) to have achieved a clean record of free and fair elections since independence, having held 10 elections since 1966 without any serious incidents of corruption. [10]
2 are Ex-officios being the President and The Speaker
The BCP is currently stuck in the coalition because it cannot afford to trigger by-elections because of a new piece of legislation that prohibits Parliament floor crossing.