UDC wins 80% of by-elections
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday July 3, 2023 06:00
With the recent break away from the coalition, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has suffered tremendously losing all the by-elections that contested.
The University of Botswana (UB) political science lecturer, Mokaloba Mokaloba said by-elections do have an impact on the general elections since the mood may have an influence on how people should vote.
'It is clear that by-elections are complex as compared to general elections. This is so because, during by-elections, a party takes its resources to one area while during general elections one is forced to spread the resources around.
The BDP, as the ruling party, has more resources as compared to the UDC. Therefore, the BDP is always at an advantage as compared to opposition parties. The BDP has a good strategy when it comes to general elections unlike opposition parties,” he said.
Mokaloba said the UDC should keep their momentum high and that would help them to win the 2024 General Election. He said so far, the UDC having won 80% of by-elections compared to BDP'S three is a good sign of a political party in preparation for general elections. Mokaloba said the mood could also help the opposition party especially the UDC to keep on working hard.
He further said if opposition parties were cooperating, then one could confidently say the opposition may do much better because if one adds their numbers then it clearly shows that people would vote for them with high numbers.
As for the BDP secretary-general, Kavis Kario, said it is hurting that they keep on losing the by-elections. “We are not impressed with the performance of our party in by-elections. For the weekend by-election, we are waiting for the proper report from our cell, branch and constituency committees. This is the one which will give us a clue about what really transpired. Mind you, each area has its own dynamics and at times it is the strategy which was used. The report will also make us understand even the challenges that the campaign team faced on the ground. It is true, it is the first that we lost the Mmaphula ward in Palapye constituency since 1966,” Kario said.
He, however, said the trend in which they are losing the by-elections is not good for the image of the party. Kario admitted that situations also differ in different wards and problems that residents face do have an impact on elections. He said his party would continue to work hard to win by-elections where possible. In addition, he said they will also check if the internal primary elections do not have a contributing factor to the outcome of elections. He also pleaded with his party members to work together and cooperate so that they could win any by-elections.
Kario said they would work hard in the Serowe West constituency as the party to win the area from the opposition. “We believe that if members are united then it would be easy to close any gap that could be there. In the 2019 General Election for Serowe West constituency, the BDP did not perform so badly looking at the dynamics in that area. We still stand a chance as the party to do better, looking at the fact that the area has not been having a representative for a while now and the Member of Parliament was not consultative in the area,” he said. On the other hand, the BCP spokesperson Mpho Pheko congratulated voters in Mmaphula East for exercising their constitutional right to choose their representative at the just-ended by-election in the Mmaphula East ward.
“Judging by the election’s outcome, we have no doubt that Batswana are warming up to our message and are steadily continuing to entrust our party with their votes. This will, with time allow us to take over state power and deliver a better Botswana for all,” she said. She said they were heartened by the large and heart warming numbers that voted for the BCP in spite of the toxic environment that the party and its candidate Gaolathe Kenosi found themselves in from its detractors. She said they got into the race to win but all is not lost as their numbers reflect. The BCP spokesperson said the outcome is clear; an overwhelming number of Batswana are tired of the BDP misrule and want change. Pheko said the BCP commits itself as a viable alternative to the BDP and the UDC.
Additionally, that the BCP stands for authentic regime change, anchored on demonstrable respect for good governance and democracy. She revealed that they understand there are no shortcuts to attaining their mission - the by-elections are a good barometer for them as they prepare for 2024. Moreover, Pheko said her party is optimistic that it would do even much better in the 2024 General Election since the BCP members are confident about their party. She said they would work hard to lure people who are not affiliated to any party to vote for them. Pheko said they will also work hard to revive party structures in different constituencies so that their party is well represented.
On other issues, Pheko said they are working on re-branding their party so that the public gets used to their symbol since they used the UDC one in the 2019 General Election. She said some people still believe that they are part of UDC while they are not.
The UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa said: “As a way of devaluing our positive performance in the by-election and our quest to win in the 2024 General Election, the BDP and its cronies are deliberately pushing the narrative that we only win by-elections. It has never happened in the history of this country that a party win so many by-elections consistently and not win a general election. How we have performed in the past is incomparable to this period since 2019.”
He said the findings of the Afrobarometer report also confirm that this is not a fluke. He said it is their message and ability to listen to the voters. Mohwasa said voters told them to work closely as the opponents of the BDP and they are doing exactly that. He continued: “Voters participated in the drafting of our manifesto and it reflects their aspirations. Ours is a people's manifesto. As a people's project, we will in the build-up to the general election, as it is the custom, give our people an opportunity to take part in the drafting of our manifesto.” Recently, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) spokesperson Osupile Maroba said an estimated average range, a polling district by-election could cost between P10,000 to P25,000.
“The IEC has so far used approximately over P4 million to fill the existing vacancies in 2021 and the four which occurred and were filled in 2023. Comparatively, the cost of filling a constituency vacancy is higher than filling that of a polling district. The cost for each constituency varies according to its size in relation to the number of polling stations in each of the polling districts. The biggest constituency has 13 polling districts and more than 40 polling stations and the smallest has one polling district and five polling stations,” Maroba had said.