By Daniel Itai.
Gaborone, Botswana (News of The South) -Botswana’s main opposition party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) yesterday filed several petitions challenging the results of the 16 parliamentary constituencies which were won by the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in last month’s election.
The UDC filed petitions with the High Court in 16 districts, while former Botswana’s President, Ian Khama is contesting the results in parliament of another three constituencies through his newly formed party, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).
President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s BDP won last month’s vote securing 38 of the 57 parliamentary seats.
UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa said, “we have filed petitions in 16 parliamentary seats and five council positions over vote fraud. The challenge is mostly on the grounds of suspicion of double-voting by our rivals.
There were irregularities throughout the elections including people voting twice. We are confident of success in all of them and the evidence we have is compelling.”
Should the High Court rule in the UDC’s favor and strip the BDP of 16 seats, the ruling party would be left with 22 seats and fall short of a majority.
This in turn will require the elections body to recount the ballots in the contested districts or call for another election.
The UDC, a coalition of three parties, won 15 seats in the October election. It was hoping to perform better than in 2014, when it got 18 seats, but an overwhelming win by the BDP in the southern part of the country, traditionally an opposition stronghold, ensured Masisi’s party retained into power.
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