Editorial: Oh, to be Botswana!

As Americans head to voting centres to choose their next president on Tuesday, how sweet it is that a lesson on democratic niceties should come from the southern African nation of Botswana. Last week, citizens of that country kicked out their ruling party which had been in office for 58 years. The transition of power took place with not a trace of the kind of rancour that has now become normal in self-celebrated democracies like USA and India.

After a textbook election campaign, a landslide vote unseated President Mokgweetsi Masisi of the Botswana Democratic Party and power smoothly passed to the opposition candidate Duma Boko of the Umbrella for Democratic Change coalition.

Sweeter still was the grace with which the ousted incumbent accepted the people’s verdict. Masisi telephoned the winner and said, “From tomorrow, I will start the process of handover. You can count on me to always be there to provide whatever guidance you might want … We will retreat to being a loyal opposition.” Is this a gentleman’s game or what? Not even cricketers play it like that anymore.

Unlike in elected autocracies such as India and elected anarchies like the USA, Botswana’s institutions of state stepped up to escort the democratic process to satisfactory completion in Gaborone. The country’s election referee did not doctor the pitch for the ruling party, which finished fourth and last in the final standings with 4 seats out of 61. Chief Justice Terence Rannowane officially declared the victory of the opposition candidate and said, “I have the honour and privilege to declare you (Boko) as elected president of Botswana. I congratulate you profoundly for the confidence that the people have shown in you.”

Heart-warming as it is that democracy is alive and well where it had no great reputation, one can hardly miss the contrast it strikes with countries that claim to have a hoary tradition of it. As we speak, American voters are going to the polls, certain that the outcome will settle nothing. The election will be disputed regardless of the fairness of its conduct. One side is clear it will accept the verdict only if it wins; and if it wins, it will put its opponents to the sword.

In India, we’re just coming off a series of elections in which we witnessed the curious phenomenon of a great number of voters materialising only after the polls close and tipping the balance one way always. Asked to explain, our election referee will only say that these twilight voters are not phantoms but proof of the great verve of India’s democracy.

We’re witnessing a strange inversion of democracy the world over. It’s called democracy but produces despots. At least 35 countries have reported declines in electoral practices in the past four years; and 71 per cent of the world's population now lives under autocratic regimes, a sharp increase from 48 per cent a decade ago. In 2024, the year in which over 60 countries have held or will hold national elections, 31 are worse off democratically with only three showing improvement, Botswana be blessed.

There are lotuses in this pond of scum, however. Brazil has recovered from Jair Bolsanaro, largely due to judicial vigil over its election system. Ecuador managed to reverse its trend of autocratization through electoral reforms and has been rewarded with improvement in civil liberties. Zambia experienced a peaceful transfer of power in 2021 following years of authoritarian rule. And now, Botswana, surrounded on all sides by South Africa, stands as an island of hope amid despair.