BDP, BCP heighten by-election preps

Chakalisa Dube | Wednesday January 11, 2017 15:12

The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) lock horns in the by-election scheduled for January 21. The election seeks to replace fallen councillor, Richie Kenosi who died nearly three months ago.

Both parties have been on the campaign trail trying to solidify their bid for the election.

The ruling party has fielded the unheralded Thabo Dimeku for the by-election while the BCP has settled for the well-known Area Gabathusi, who was also the party candidate for the 2014 general elections.

The BDP goes into the election buoyed by the last general elections victory after garnering 708 votes against the BCP’s 596.

Yesterday, a confident BCP campaign manager said the campaign has gone smoothly and they have covered much of the ground.

“We did a lot of campaigning during the festive season because the majority of voters were within reach as they had come for the holidays. We covered the entire ward and the response has been very positive,” said Gaone Samme, the BCP campaign manager.

She added: “We believe that this time around we have a very good chance of winning the by-election. In the last general elections, some of our voters did not vote because they were unhappy that the party was not part of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).” 

“The UDC has also been gaining momentum in the ward and we expect more votes from them at the by-election,” Samme noted.

The BCP will launch its candidate over the weekend whilst the BDP launched its candidate last weekend.

BDP campaign manager for the ward by-election, Malebogo Orapeleng also told Mmegi that the campaign has gone well and they have covered a lot of ground.

“We are just left with wrapping up the campaigns. We did a lot of work last December and the reaction from the voters suggests that we still remain very popular in the ward,” she said.

The party has however been hit by reports that some members have threatened not to vote for the party at the by-election because of infighting after the primaries. 

“We have managed to effectively convince those who threatened to vote against the party because their candidates did not win the primaries not to do so and they have changed their stance,” said Orapeleng.