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Botswana National Front | |
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Leader | Duma Boko |
Founded | 3 October 1965 |
Ideology | Social democracy Christian left Historical: Democratic socialism |
Political position | Centre-left Historical: Left-wing |
National affiliation | Umbrella for Democratic Change |
International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
National Assembly | 23 / 61 |
Party flag | |
The Botswana National Front (BNF) is a social democratic political party in Botswana. It was the main opposition party in Botswana from the 1969 elections until the 2024 elections.
Until 2024, the party’s greatest electoral success was in the 1994 elections, when it won 37.1% of the vote and 13 of 40 parliamentary seats. A factional conflict in 1998 led to the departure of 11 of these MPs, who then founded the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). In the 1999 elections, the BNF's vote share declined to 26% and it won 6 parliamentary seats. In the 2004 general election the party won 26.1% of the popular vote and 12 out of 57 seats. Its representation was sharply reduced in the 2009 elections, with the party reduced to only six seats in the National Assembly of Botswana. The BNF's parliamentary representation fell to 5 seats following the defection of the party's former Vice President, Olebile Gaborone, to the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in July 2010.[citation needed]