The Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and the Real Alternative Party (RAP) have shunned the Alliance for Progressives (AP) and the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) coalition talks ahead of the 2024 general elections.
While RAP has already submitted a request to the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) to be considered a new member, the BMD on the other hand intends to do so after their October congress.
RAP Secretary General Onkemetse Clark told this publication that the party has made a request to the UDC leadership to engage in possible coalition talks.
“We see the UDC as the most relevant coalition block based on the political ideologies we have in common. I must say that we cannot hold any engagements with the AP-BCP when we have already expressed interest in the UDC,” he said.
Clark further said although they prefer the UDC, they will engage their fellow party members on the way forward should their request fail to be successful.
“We have made it quite clear that we will not assess the qualities of any leader within the opposition parties but rather the ideologies associated with the parties,” added Clark.
For his part, BMD Chairman Nehemiah Modubule stated that although their October congress will determine which group they intend to align with, their preferred model of cooperation has always been that of the UDC.
“You will recall that the BMD played a critical role in the formation of the UDC and we even suggested the kind of model that should be adopted and that being the one being used currently,”
“We are going for our elective congress in October and that is where most of the decisions will be taken on the way forward for the party,” stated Modubule.
He also said the party has 21 active constituencies at the moment and they intend to strengthen them in the lead up to the next general elections.
“I cannot mislead anyone to say that we have 57 constituencies when in reality we only have 21 that are active and we are working hard around them to ensure that they remain relevant,” said Modubule.
