Botswana elections near a close after bullish turnout

Oct 16, 2009, 19:29 GMT

Johannesburg/Gaborone - Polling stations in diamond-rich Botswana were mobbed on Friday for the country's general elections in which the opposition is hoping to shrink the ruling Botswana Democratic Party's (BDP) 43-year hold on power.

The Independent Electoral Commission was it was hoping for a 'very huge turnout' as long queues formed at polling stations across the vast desert nation for 13 hours of voting beginning at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT).

IEC spokesman Osupile Maroba told the German Press Agency dpa he expected voting to continue past the scheduled close of polls at 7 pm in areas where voting had been slow.

Apart from the slow pace, 'everything is going according to plan,' he said. The opposition Botswana Congress Party also praised the voting process as smooth.

Some 725,000 people out of some 1.8 million in a country which is about the size of Texas are eligible to vote for 57 members of the National Assembly. Around 2,000 Batswana living overseas already voted on October 3.

The results are expected over the weekend.

The BDP of President Ian Khama, which has governed the country since independence from Britain in 1966, is expected to easily win re-election.

The centre-left party went into the election with 45 seats in parliament, against 11 for the Botswana National Front (BNF), the biggest opposition party, and one for the BCP, both leftist parties.

The BDP owes its popularity to its judicious use of the country's diamond wealth, which has been used to transform what was one of the world's poorest countries at independence into a middle-income nation, with free healthcare and free education to third level for most.

The international recession underscored Botswana's dependence on the gems. Sharply reduced demand for diamonds in Western markets over the past year has plunged Botswana into recession.

The economy shrank 20 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 and is expected to contract by around 11 per cent for the year as a whole.

If his party wins a majority of 29 seats, Khama, 56, will be automatically returned as president for another five years.

Former vice president Khama, 56, son of Botswana's popular first president Sir Seretse Khama, became president after ex-president Festus Mogae retired in March last year.

A former Botswana Defence Force commander, who admits to being a stickler for order, Khama been been accused of being autocratic.

The election campaign was overshadowed by a spat within the BDP over his insistence on discipline.

Khama was taken to court by a faction of his party for suspending a senior party official but the courts ruled he was immune from prosecution while still president.

Khama is also famous for being an outspoken critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and for having pushed through an unpopular 30 per cent tax on alcohol last year.

Alcohol is a factor in Botswana's stubbornly high HIV/AIDS infection rates, which are the second-highest in the world, after Swaziland.