We would also like to thank the other opposition parties, namely, the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and Botswana People's Party (BPP) for rendering assistance. These parties not only did not field candidates in the by-election but also assisted in other ways.In the 2009 general elections, the BNF got 365 votes while the BDP and BCP attracted 411 and 261 votes respectively. Our party's share of valid votes cast was 33.27 percent. In the bye-election, our share of popular vote grew to 49.1 percent. This marked an increase of more than 16 percent in just over two years. The BDP with its abundant resources and also government resources, all focused in one ward, had its margin reduced from 66 to a mere nine votes. We got into this by-election as underdogs but we gave the BDP a run for its money. They escaped by a whisker!
The BNF is confident that the united forces of the opposition will definitely bring about a change of government which Batswana are yearning for. Our conviction that the opposition cooperation, which incidentally enjoys national support, is the only option to unseat the BDP has been buttressed.We are however disturbed by reports of vote-buying by the BDP. This is wrong and has to be criticised as it takes away the people's power in freely determining their rightful leaders. It distorts democracy and ensures that those who end up winning are the monied and not necessarily those with good policies. The poverty that has been brought upon to bear on Batswana and in this instance the people of Boteti shows how unfairly our resources have and continue to be distributed. It is a clear demonstration of the failures of the neo-liberal policies as espoused and practiced by the BDP. Ironically four diamond rich mines have been operational in this district where a good number of the poorest in the country reside. The district has not received the kind of developments that are enjoyed by the rest of the country. BDP has ensured that our people stay in abject poverty so that it can provide blankets, liquor and free lunches etc during elections to buy votes.
