Botswana Voters Hand Governing Party a Stunning Rebuke

The party that has governed Botswana since it became independent in 1966 received a stunning rebuke in national elections this week, losing its absolute majority in Parliament for the first time, according to results announced on Friday morning.

The partial results indicated that the main opposition party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change, was on track to win a majority of the 61 seats up for election in Parliament. Because members of Parliament elect the president, the result means that President Mokgweetsi Masisi, of the governing Botswana Democratic Party, will not receive the second full term he had been seeking.

Mr. Masisi conceded the race at a news conference on Friday. He said he would ensure a smooth transition of power to the opposition leader, Duma Boko, who will be the next president of Botswana, a landlocked nation of about 2.5 million people in southern Africa.

“I promise to do my part in building a strong country and to work with the new administration to ensure that every Batswana has opportunities at their fingertips,” Mr. Masisi said, using the term for citizens of Botswana.

After the end of British colonial rule, Botswana had one of the most successful economic turnarounds that Africa has ever seen. It grew wealthy from diamond production and earned a reputation for fiscal prudence and good governance, qualities that many in the country now say are on the decline.

The governing party lost support amid an economic slump fueled largely by a slowdown in the global diamond trade, which accounts for the largest share of the nation’s economy. The mining giant De Beers gets most of its stones from Botswana, whose diamond output is rivaled only by Russia’s.

Critics also have blamed Botswana’s economic struggles on mismanagement and corruption within the Botswana Democratic Party-led government.

“I couldn’t be happier to see us out of the rule of Masisi and his administration,” said Tumelo Eetsi, a 43-year-old teacher living in Gaborone, the capital. “I just wanted to see change for this nation, and I’m hopeful we’ll have a fresh start on many things.”

The governing party’s fall adds it to a list of long-dominant political parties in southern Africa that have bled public support in recent years. In May, the African National Congress, which has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, lost its parliamentary majority for the first time.

Analysts say the lofty reputations that many African political parties earned during the fight against colonialism no longer resonate with a growing population of young voters, who are more concerned about challenges like getting a good education and finding work.

Botswana’s unemployment rate has climbed to nearly 28 percent, and among young people it is closer to 38 percent. The International Monetary Fund expects the country to see growth of just 1 percent this year, down from 5.5 percent in 2022, largely because of the global diamond slump.