- Seven in 10 Batswana (70%) prefer democracy to all other forms of government.
- Overwhelming majorities oppose dictatorship (91%), military rule (81%), and one-party rule (80%).
- About two-thirds (65%) of citizens say elections are the best way to choose the country’s political leaders. o But the proportion of citizens who favour elections has dropped by more than 20 percentage points since 2008 (88%).
- Half (50%) of citizens say it doesn’t matter if one party always wins and continuously governs the country, as long as it is freely and fairly elected, while a similar proportion (48%) believe it is better if power sometimes changes hands from one political party to another.
- Seven in 10 Batswana (70%) say they voted in the last election, a share that has held fairly steady for more than a decade.
- A majority (58%) of respondents say they trust the IEC “just a little” or “not at all.”
- More than half (54%) of Batswana say they are dissatisfied with the way democracy works in the country. o Although this is down from 66% in 2022, it is still more than three times the proportion of dissatisfied citizens in 2008 (16%).
Botswana’s multiparty democracy has historically been praised as one of the better performers in Africa, albeit under a dominant-party system for nearly six decades (Seabo & Molebatsi, 2017; Maphunyi, 2021; Tlhankane, 2022). The country’s democratic accolades are linked to a record of hosting free and relatively fair elections, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring respect for human rights (Sebudubudu & Molutsi, 2008).
While the regularity and credibility of its elections have earned the country credit, the absence of ruling-party turnover since 1966 had become a point of criticism in recent years (Good, 2017; Lekalake, 2016). The lack of change raised questions about the country’s first past-the-post electoral system, which some argue has contributed to voter apathy and reinforced the dominant-party system (Molomo, 2004).
In a historic shift, Botswana’s 2024 elections led to a turnover of government. Amid economic challenges and general citizen discontent, voters elected the Umbrella for Democratic Change into government, ending six decades of electoral dominance by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). The BDP’s defeat demoted it to minority opposition as it secured only four out of 61 parliamentary seats (Namaiko & Chikohomero, 2024). Major pre-election themes included rising unemployment, a lack of available medicines and health supplies, and depleted state coffers due to COVID-19, corruption, and mismanagement of the pandemic (Makgala, 2024).
Other concerns about Botswana’s democracy have been raised, including that judicial independence has been compromised and that the government has attacked media freedoms (Kebonang & Kaboyakgosi, 2017; Poteete, 2017). A decline in political participation has also been cause for concern: Voter turnout declined from 84.7% of registered voters in 2014 to 81.4% in the 2024 election (IPU Parline, 2025; Independent Electoral Commission, 2022).
Critics aver that several factors may contribute to reduced interest in political participation, including the use of an electoral system that is not responsive to voters’ interests and a lack of trust in the electoral commission. For instance, an Independent Electoral Commission (2022) report indicates that 38% of survey respondents believe the official results of the 2019 elections were not an accurate record of how people voted. When asked how much they trust the electoral commission, 35% of citizens said they “do not trust it at all”; only 10% said they “trust it a lot.”
Findings from the most recent Afrobarometer survey show that a clear majority of Batswana are committed to democracy, reject authoritarian alternatives, and favour elections as the best method for choosing their leaders. However, support for elections has been decreasing since 2008, and while self-reported voter turnout has been stable for the past decade, fewer than half of citizens express trust in the IEC.
Overall, more than half of Batswana are dissatisfied with the way the country’s democracy is working.
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