With just a month away, from Botswana's polls only one party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), has launched its manifesto. Meanwhile, the rest have not yet done so. Consequently, this gives Batswana only a limited time to understand the political parties' manifestos or to make a fair judgement based on what each party intends to do if elected into power. The political parties that will contest for the polls include the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), the UDC, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and the Botswana Republic Party (BRP). A manifesto is a political party’s document that outlines all the promises it makes to the people about what it plans to do if elected. Typically, a party makes decisions, policies, and programmes, amongst other things, based on its manifesto. When campaigning, a party will, therefore, take pride in having accomplished most of the promises it made to the people. This is the first time political parties have acted in this manner.
For instance, the BCP has only released snippets of its manifesto rather than the entire document. Normally, even if parties are late, they ensure that the public has access to their manifestos at least two months before the general elections. The BCP is expected to launch its manifesto on September 18, 2024. This situation indicates that some parties have realised Batswana do not hold them accountable and that some voters cast their ballots without considering a party's promises or its plans to improve the lives of Batswana. However, for those who rely on the manifestos to make informed voting decisions, the limited time to review them before the election day will leave them with fewer options. This delay not only disadvantages voters but also candidates, particularly in debates. Some candidates struggle during ongoing political debates hosted by different radio stations because they are not well-versed in their party's promises. Surprisingly, this time around, parties like the BDP are still dealing with internal issues, such as resolving their Bulela Ditswe candidate lists and delaying the launch of their manifesto. As the ruling party, one would have expected the BDP to lead in this regard, but no clear date has been set for its manifesto launch. As for the BPF, it remains unclear whether they will release a manifesto at all.
