From independence until the late 2010s, the BDP was particularly strong in the Central District, Seretse Khama's home region and the territory of the Ngwato tribe, while it became weak in urban areas and in the North-West and the South.

After a series of meetings, the "Bechuanaland Democratic Party" was established in November 1961 in Lobatse by a group of members of the African Consultative Council, a limited representative body of the protectorate, under the leadership of Seretse Khama, former head of the BaNgwato tribe, with Ketumile Quett Masire as general secretary.

Khama and Masire focused their speeches on the defense of liberal democracy, a negotiated transition to independence and an economic development plan for the heavily neglected and impoverished colony.

Following transitional agreements between the authorities elected in 1965 and the UK government at the time, Khama assumed the role of President of Botswana, with Masire serving as vice-president and the legislative council transformed into the National Assembly.

This was explained by the inability of its opponents to unite, being strongly influenced by tribal interests or advocating ideas based on African socialism that the conservative local population found too radical or unattractive.

[16][23] This dominance would continue until the 2019 Botswana general election in which Seretse Khama's son, Ian, would break ranks with the BDP and thereby ending its five-decade stranglehold over the region.

This included the construction of extensive infrastructure in remote regions, leading to a rapid surge in popular support for the party, even though the majority of the population remained politically apathetic.

Concerned about the possibility that high abstention could challenge its legitimacy, the BDP launched a broad media campaign in the second half of the 1970s to engage the population, encouraging voter registration and participation.

Months later, an electoral fraud scandal, known as "Botswana Watergate," led to a re-election in Gaborone South in which Koma defeated vice-president Mmusi and assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition.

[33] Benefiting from Bathoen's departure from the BNF and the division of votes with the new BFP, the BDP managed to penetrate its old support base in the Bangwaketse tribe, winning the Ngwaketse South seat from the opposition.

Although it marked the lowest popular vote achieved by the BDP in its history up to that point, the party secured its best historical result in parliamentary terms, controlling 91% of the seats in the National Assembly.

One of the most notable scandals involved the irregular sale of tland, which led to the resignations of Vice-president Peter Mmusi and the then Minister of Agriculture, Daniel Kwelagobe, both high-ranking officials in the former ruling party.

The BNF made gains by capitalizing on urban discontent and even penetrated the party's rural base for the first time, achieving important advances in local elections.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy awarded Mogae the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor for his "exemplary leadership" in making Botswana a "model" of democracy and good governance and he also received the Ibrahim Prize that same year.

The Barata-Phathi faction, including Gomolemo Motswaledi, alongside Kwelagobe, criticized Khama's leadership during his early months in office, accusing him of exceeding his prerogatives as a party leader.

[47] Khama's initial year in power was characterized by his decision to lead the BDP to adopt a hardline stance against the ZANU–PF regime, led by Robert Mugabe since 1980, during the country's violent elections.

Several months later, Kwelagobe and Khama reached a separate agreement to defuse their conflict and project an image of unity in preparation for the 2009 Botswana general election.

[49] In 2012, the BMD, BNF and BPP established the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) coalition, marking the first permanent alliance between various opposition parties since independence, exclusive of the BCP.

The party's losses were particularly pronounced in urban areas, experiencing a resounding defeat in the Gaborone City Council elections, where they ranked third in parliamentary strength behind the UDC and the BCP.

Shortly after taking office, Masisi adopted a leadership style distinct from his predecessor and began to politically marginalize the Khama family while revoking various privileges.

Looking ahead to the 2019 Botswana general election, the BDP adjusted its discourse and adopted a more personalized approach, emphasizing a forward-looking perspective and definitively breaking with the previous administration.

With the opposition discredited due to its association with Khama and a reinvigorated leadership, the BDP achieved a comprehensive victory, securing 53% of the vote and 38 of the 57 elected seats.

In one of the worst defeats of a governing party in the Commonwealth, the BDP lost 90% of its parliamentary representation and was reduced to a rump of four seats out of 61, making it the smallest of the four factions represented in the National Assembly.

Due to the nature of the first-past-the-post system, which awards power solely on the basis of seats won, the geographic dispersion of the BDP's support base proved electorally inefficient.

The Botswana Congress Party leveraged its geographically dense support in the northern constituencies to maximize its seat-to-vote efficiency, securing official opposition status despite trailing the BDP by over 79,000 votes nationally, leading to an electoral inversion.

Officially, the party upholds national unity, economic development and political democracy as its core values, complemented by the concepts of "kagisano" (lit.

During its initial years in power, the BDP implemented pro-free market policies, ensuring low and stable taxes to stimulate foreign investment and encourage mining company activities in the country while deterring budget evasion.

[60] The party's consistent defense of social solidarity and the welfare state, combined with its mixed economic policies, traditionalism and clear rejection of leftist or Marxist ideologies, have led foreign analysts to sometimes characterize the BDP as a proponent of "paternalistic conservatism".

[62] In terms of security, the BDP initially allocated minimal spending to the country's territorial defense during its early years in government, prioritizing economic and social development.

[65][66][67] Nevertheless, the BDP and its government continue to view themselves as allies of the West in international affairs, particularly on issues such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as they consistently vote in favor of condemnatory United Nations resolutions.