The Botswana National Front (BNF), the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), the Botswana People’s Party (BPP), the Alliance for Progressives (AP), the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), the Botswana Labour Party (BLP) and the Real Alternative (RAP) have all become a disconnected and partly allied web of opposition parties. With the resurrection of the BMD in Mahalapye last weekend, coalition-building would likely centre around three main hopefuls.
The Umbrella for Democratic Party (UDC), which is made up of four parties being the BNF, the BPP, the BPF and the BCP will likely end up with three because the latter is on its way out. That leaves the UDC as the BNF-BPP-BPF alliance. The BCP, which has started official talks with the AP, have left the door open for other political parties and recently they invited the BLP to their negotiating table so this particular alliance might end up as the BCP-AP or the BCP-AP-BLP. The third one which was not seen as possible until recently combines BMD with the RAP and the BLP. Both the newly elected BMD president Nehemiah Modubule and the BLP interim secretary-general Kgakgamatso Kebiditswe have indicated that they will consider this alliance as they contemplate their political prospects.
