Country

Botswana

Democracy

0.03%

of the world’s population

2,603,390 people

Source: Tyranny Tracker

Overview

HRF classifies Botswana as democratic.

Botswana is a parliamentary republic and Africa’s longest-uninterrupted democracy. The head of state, Duma Boko, was democratically elected in the October 2024 presidential elections as the first opposition challenger to win the presidency after 58 years of uninterrupted rule by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

Key Highlights

National elections are mainly free, fair, and transparent. Political parties enjoy vibrant electoral competition with elections held every five years. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) operates without interference from the executive.

Independent media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and regular people are largely free to openly criticize or challenge the government. However, the previous BDP administration of Mokgweetsi Masisi unfairly repressed dissenting protests, judicially harassed his political rival and predecessor, former President Ian Khama, and abused vague laws to silence journalists and government critics.

Institutions are largely independent and serve as effective checks on the government, consistently restraining attempts to repress criticism, undermine electoral competition, or weaken or dismantle accountability mechanisms. The government has not considerably undermined judicial independence.

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