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Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has conceded defeat after parliamentary elections in which voters overwhelmingly rejected the ruling party that had been in power for 58 years.
Official results were yet to be confirmed by the electoral commission early on Friday, but early tallies showed the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had lost its parliamentary majority.
“The evidence is overwhelming. We lost the election massively,” Masisi said in his concession speech.
In a post on X, he offered his “heartfelt congratulations” to Duma Boko, leader of the opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), referring to him as the president-elect.
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Boko, a human rights lawyer, spent five years between 2014 and 2019 as the country’s leader of opposition. The UDC accused the ruling party of corruption and economic mismanagement in the run up to this month’s election.
Notably, ex-President Ian Khama campaigned against his former party, having fallen out with his protégé Masisi.
The BDP had been in power since the diamond-rich southern African country gained independence in 1966.
The opposition party’s victory is in line with various polls that showed the UDC leading the BDP by up to eight percentage points in some instances. Disapproval ratings for Masisi were also high, fueled by discontent over slow economic growth and lack of opportunities.
Botswana is one of the world’s biggest producers of rough diamonds by value. But global diamond sales have been hit by oversupply and poor demand, in part tied to rising sales of lab-grown gems.
At a presidential debate earlier in October, Masisi said shrinking revenues from the diamond market had affected economic growth, even as the country seeks to diversify its economy.
“Our diamonds have not been selling since April so yes, our revenues are down but the fundamentals are still intact,” he said.