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BDP regions on the clock to finish appeals

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Central Committee (CC) has instructed all regional committees to complete their primary election recommendations by Saturday, as four wards will be going for a re-run. These include Matebele-Ramodibe, Maruapula, Kgale View, and Medie wards which resulted in a deadlock. The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Central Committee (CC) has instructed all regional committees to complete their primary election recommendations by Saturday, as four wards will be going for a re-run. These include Matebele-Ramodibe, Maruapula, Kgale View, and Medie wards which resulted in a deadlock.
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Central Committee (CC) has instructed all regional committees to complete their primary election recommendations by Saturday, as four wards will be going for a re-run. These include Matebele-Ramodibe, Maruapula, Kgale View, and Medie wards which resulted in a deadlock.

Notably, decisions made by the regional committees are not final until the CC has reviewed and agreed with them. The BDP has received 22 appeals from the first batch of primary elections, and the deadline for appeals for the second batch was last Friday.

Additionally, the party's CC met yesterday and decided not to make any decisions on the appeals until it has reviewed all the cases at once. Furthermore, BDP Secretary-General Kavis Kario urged members to remain united and apologised for the irregularities that occurred during the first batch of elections, noting that some elections had to be held at night.

The BDP secretary-general said that the party admitted that the mistakes from the first batch of primary elections came from their side and even some challenges that they might had in the second one. He, however, pleaded with party members who call themselves democrats to forgive them. He said party primary elections are not supposed to divide them as members but rather it is supposed to unite them. Although three of the 36 constituencies were unopposed, 22 members from different constituencies have filed appeals. Amongst those who have appealed include Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame, Minister of Minerals and Energy, Lefoko Moagi, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Molebatsi Molebatsi, and Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central, Tumisang Healy amongst others.

Some appeals have been directed to the party's central committee, while others have been submitted to the respective regional committees. Secretary-General Kavis Kario emphasised the importance of adhering to party procedures. “Appeals should generally be directed to the regional committees, as stipulated by the party constitution. However, for appeals to be considered by the CC, there must be sufficient reasons and evidence to justify why the regional committee could not handle the case,” he said.