From News 24

The president of diamond-rich Botswana will be sworn in for a second term on Tuesday, after seeing off the fiercest challenge yet to his party’s half century of unbroken rule.

The government said 61-year-old Ian Khama will take the oath of office before the country’s Chief Justice, days after the ex-military man’s Botswana Democratic Party won a comfortable parliamentary majority.

The BDP has ruled Botswana since independence in 1966, taking the country from abject poverty to one of the most prosperous and stable countries on the continent.

That economic record was enough to help Khama see off a stern challenge from opposition parties, who managed to reduce his BDP’s tally by eight seats to 37.

The coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change won 17 seats to become the country’s main opposition party, after making inroads in urban areas. Fifty-seven of 61 seats in parliament are elected with four more picked by the president.

“The UDC did well for a new party, but naturally we were hoping for more votes to topple the BDP. It was never to be,” said Seakamela Motsoaledi, a UDC party representative.

Falling diamond revenues

Although seen as one of Africa’s success stories, Botswana has recorded rising unemployment since 2009 as the global economic crisis sent diamond prices falling.

Read more at News 24