Oct 13, 2009, 13:59 GMT
Johannesburg - Botswana, the world's biggest producer of diamonds by value and a shining example of good governance in Africa, goes to the polls on Friday to elect a new parliament against the backdrop of recession.
Around 700,000 people out of some 1.8 million in the southern African nation are registered to elect 57 members of the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament.
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) of President Ian Khama, which has governed the vast desert nation for all of its 43 years of independence from Britain, is expected to easily win re-election.
The party has 45 seats in the National Assembly, against 11 for the Botswana National Front (BNF), the biggest opposition party, and one for the smaller Botswana Congress Party (BCP), which was born out of a split in the BNF around a decade ago.
The BDP owes its popularity to its leaders' sound stewardship of the country over the past four decades. At independence, Botswana was one of the world's poorest countries, with only a few kilometres of paved roads for a country the size of Texas.
A year later Botswana struck diamonds, which the country's founding president Sir Seretse Khama and his successors have used to transform the country into a middle-income nation, with free education to third level for most and near-universal healthcare.
By contrast with other African countries, where diamonds or oil riches have been used to bankroll conflicts, Botswana has been a model of stability.
After the election, parliament will sit to elect the president, in a move expected to confirm Khama's leadership.
Former vice president and ex-Botswana Defence Force commander Khama, 56, ascended to the presidency in March 2008 after then president Festus Mogae stepped down at the end of two terms.
Accused by some of riding on his father's coattails as the son of the late, revered Seretse Khama and his British wife Ruth Williams, Ian Khama moved quickly to put his stamp on the office of president.
Within weeks he was openly criticizing Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe for human rights abuses, showing a daring on the subject uncommon among southern African leaders.
A strict disciplinarian, he also tried to push through a 70 per cent levy on alcohol but was forced to settle for 30 per cent.
When Botswana was plunged into recession earlier this year, as demand for diamonds, which account for over a third of the economy, hit rock bottom, Khama also showed strong leadership.
Trading on Botswana's strong credit rating the government borrowed 1.5 billion dollars from the African Development Bank to maintain government spending, particularly on infrastructure.
What the recession has done, however, is shine a light on Botswana's slow progress in weaning the country off diamond mining.
Khama says he wants to make Botswana, which shares borders with four countries, into a manufacturing and services gateway to southern Africa.
The election campaign itself was overshadowed by a spat within the BDP, on which the opposition is hoping to capitalize.
Khama was taken to court by a faction of his party for suspending a senior party official and barring him from standing in the election for insubordination. The courts ruled Khama was immune from prosecution.
The opposition say the case, and Khama's proclivity for issuing presidential directives, are proof of an authoritarian streak.
'At the international level he has been saying all the right things,' Dumelang Saleshando, member of parliament for the opposition BCP told the German Press Agency dpa. 'But in this country he rules unilaterally.'
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