Is Botswana a Democracy?

Four parties contested the first general elections in 1965. That hadn’t happened with the trailblazers, Ghana and the rest of them.  In the second general elections in 1969, four parties again contested, one had dropped out and a new one had been born. Multiparty democracy,  it was.

Botswana from the onset scorned the single party system/no-party system, which western countries coincidentally disapproved. Since 1969 Botswana has held general elections every five years. This record is impressive and probably led political observers to label Botswana, not only as a democracy, but a ‘shining example.’ Regular, multiparty general elections earned Botswana the endearing epithet!’