Sawt Falasteen - Botswana votes as president's party seeks to extend six-decade rule

Some of the one million registered voters queued for several hours before polling stations opened in a country that prides itself on being southern Africa's oldest democracy but where the same party has been in power since independence in 1966.

"It is my time to voice my opinion. I can't wait," said Lone Kobe, 38, who arrived at her voting venue more than three hours ahead of time.

Self-employed Kobe said she was voting to change a system dominated by the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) that she believes benefits only a section of the country's 2.6 million people.

"We are seeing a percentage of the population enjoying the benefits. We are just the spectators, like we are watching a movie," she said.

Botswana's vast diamond reserves, discovered just after independence from Britain, drove growth and development, lifting the largely desert country out of extreme poverty.

But today it ranks as one of the most unequal nations in the world, with three-fifths of financial assets held by the richest 10 percent, according to a 2022 World Bank report.

Masisi's first five-year term has seen unemployment rise to 27 percent, with younger people most affected, and a downturn in growth partly linked to weakened diamond sales.

The government has also faced allegations of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement.

US-educated Masisi was elected in 2019 with around 52 percent of the vote going to the BDP.

While the party is not expected to fare much better this time when results are due to be announced late Thursday, commentators have raised the prospect of a hung parliament for the first time.

Asked about the possibility after he cast his vote in his home village of Moshupa about 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of the capital Gaborone, Masisi told reporters: "I don't want a hung parliament. But elsewhere, if that happens, parties negotiate."

He acknowledged concerns about a decline in Botswana's foreign reserves and weakened international diamond sales, saying that the government would increase local investments as a countermeasure.

"We intend to address that by putting money into the pockets of citizens and building infrastructure," said Masisi.

He also told election observers from Zimbabwe's ruling party that "victory is certain".

At the same small polling station, unemployed Mompati Seekano, 57, said: "The BDP government has done great things for this country. President Masisi should be granted a second term."

- Fractured opposition -

In Gaborone, first-time voter Khumo Mase, 21, said many young people -- who make up nearly 40 percent of the population -- had decided not to vote because they believed the system is rigged to keep the BDP in office.

The opposition is also "inconsistent", she said. "We only hear about them at election time but the ruling party always shows it is there."

Three presidential candidates are standing against Masisi but the opposition is fractured and lacks campaigning resources.

In the lead-up to the vote, two of the candidates quit the main opposition alliance including 54-year-old human rights lawyer, Duma Boko, now standing for the left-leaning Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).

The two other presidential candidates are Mephato Reatile of the populist Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and Dumelang Saleshando of the social democratic Botswana Congress Party (BCP).

The surprise return of former president Ian Khama from three years of self-exile to campaign against Masisi added energy to the opposition but analysts said his influence was limited to a few districts.

With 61 seats up for grabs in parliament, Botswana's first-past-the-post system means the first party to take 31 seats will be declared the winner and install its candidate as president.

T.Samara--SF-PST