Domkrag’s Lesedi Phuthego, who in 2019 polls missed the constituency with just under 400 votes margin, could pull a surprise win if the BPF does not get their house in order. The BPF, with only a week left before nominations for members of Parliament finds itself at pains to either announce a candidate or a date for re-run of primaries if there would be any. Mmegi has learnt that while there are issues also concerning council seats in the two other Serowe constituencies, of great worry is the Serowe South constituency where party members are at each other’s throats over who is to represent their party. The party regional leaders and members are without answers as the electoral board led by Iphemele Kgokgothwane is yet to provide direction. The Bagammngwato capital is made up of three constituencies, namely, Serowe South, Serowe North and Serowe West, which parliamentary seats were all occupied by the BPF.
The party made history in the 2019 General Election winning all the seats without holding primary elections. The victory, backed by their patron and Kgosikgolo Ian Khama, has sparked massive interest as all the parliamentary seats have opponents. While incumbents in North and West, Baratiwa Mathoothe and Onalepelo Kedikilwe were declared winners, no winner has been declared in Serowe South as the party primaries were marred by controversies. The current MP, Leepetswe Lesedi, was challenged by former Permanent Secretary, Dr Kolaatamo Malefho and Prince Moitoi. The highly-attended primary elections held in July were marred by rigging allegations, leading to delays in announcing some of the results. Mmegi has learnt that in the Motetshwane Ward in the Serowe North constituency, while there were 601 voters on the roll, the total number of votes for council candidates was more than 800. The votes for the parliamentary candidate were, however, not tampered with. Final results for the Serowe North parliamentary candidate were released in the morning while those for Serowe West and Serowe South were delayed. It would come to the fore that in Malatswai, counting was not done and boxes had to be brought to the main counting centre at Mmualefhe Primary School in Serowe. This was after members stormed the polling station at night and broke down a door.
