Botswana National Front

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Botswana National Front (BNF; German about: "Nationale Front von Botswana"; Setswana : Kopano Puo Phaa ; German about: "Assembly of honest speech") is a party founded in 1965 in Botswana . She was always in the opposition and has been part of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) alliance since 2014 . The originally socialist party sees itself today as social democratic .

history

The BNF was founded in October 1965, shortly after the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) won the election . She tried to unite with other opposition groups, including parts of the Botswana People's Party (BPP). In the 1969 election to the National Assembly , it became the first official opposition party. It always provided some parliamentarians and led the opposition without being able to endanger the government set up by the BDP. Again and again it was weakened by splits. In the 1970s and 1980s, the BNF was an alliance of traditional leaders such as Bathoen Gaseitsiwe, the leader of the Ngwaketse in southern Botswana, and socialists such as Chairman Kenneth Koma , who had been trained in the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia . In 1984 she gained a majority in Gaborone City Council and five of the 34 national parliamentary seats, in 1989 she expanded her majority in Gaborone City Council.

In 1994 the BNF achieved its historically highest share of votes with 37.1% and 13 of the 40 seats. In 1998 Michael Dingake split off with the Botswana Congress Party (BCP); 11 of the 13 BNF parliamentarians switched to the BCP, which stood to the right of the BNF. In 1999 the BNF achieved six of the 40 seats with 26% of the vote; in 2004 it received 12 of the now 57 seats. In 2009 it dropped to six seats. Kenneth Koma had previously resigned in 2003 and founded the New Democratic Front . In 2010 Duma Boko was elected chairman.

In 2012, two years before the 2014 election , the BNF founded the alliance Umbrella for Democratic Change with the Botswana People's Party and the BDP spin-off Botswana Movement for Democracy , which has been led by the BNF chairman Duma Boko since then. It received 17 of the 57 seats, while the BDP, which has been in power since Botswana was founded, won again due to majority voting rights, although it received less than 50% of the vote for the first time. In 2017, the BCP joined the UDC.

The BNF was at times an observing member of the Socialist International .

In 2017 some of the members around the chairman of the Youth League left the BNF to join the newly founded Alliance for Progressives (AP).

Structure and politics

Chairman (President) is Duma Boko, Secretary General is Moeti Mohwasa. The Central Committee is the governing body.

The party's guideline is known as Puo Phaa . The BNF is on friendly terms with the South African Communist Party .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ frank on Setswana at tn.oxforddictionaries.com, accessed April 27, 2018
  2. ↑ a b c d Letshwiti Tutwane: Modernizing the Botswana National Front: a case for political marketing. Botswana Notes and Records, Volume 44, 2012. Digitized
  3. ↑ Mogopodi Lekorwe: The politics of urban governance and management in Gaborone. P. 77. pdfproc.lib.msu.edu (English; PDF), accessed on April 27, 2018
  4. ↑ Botswana opposition unites. herold.co.zw of February 6, 2017 (English), accessed April 24, 2018
  5. ^ XX Congress of the Socialist International, New York. 9-11 September 1996 (English), accessed April 27, 2018
  6. ↑ a b News Feed: Botswana National Front. botswanaguardian.co.bw, accessed April 27, 2018
  7. ↑ a b BNF leadership tours the nation. mmegi.bw of May 31, 2017 (English), accessed on April 27, 2018
  8. ^ Congratulations from the BNF on the 90th anniversary of the SACP at sacp.org.za (English), accessed on April 27, 2018