[10][11] Additionally, political science scholars have sometimes expressed concern about the National Assembly because of its few women MPs and its interconnectedness with the executive.

[8] Originally, the purpose of the specially elected members was to create representation in the National Assembly for minority groups of the country.

[13] Under the circumstance that the President declares a state of public emergency, the National Assembly also gains another purpose.

In this scenario, the President acquires the power to independently create broad regulations that are necessary to quell the emergency.

Some scholars, like political scientist John Holm, point to such meetings as examples of how Tswana culture embodies themes of public discourse and debate.

Furthermore, this was also due to the fact that the area avoided annexation into neighboring white supremacist South Africa.

[5][4] Eventually, however, colonial intervention became more centralized in 1919 when the British authorities established a Native Advisory Council at the regional level.

[4] However, it is important to note that British colonial authorities often constructed these councils on a foundation of exploitative interests.

[16] In 1959, the resident commissioner of Botswana, Peter Fawcus, worked alongside prominent Batswana figures such as Seretse Khama to create a new Legislative Council.

[4] Legislative Councils (LegCos) like this one were not isolated to Botswana and were instead common in late British colonial rule.

Ken Opalo, an expert of legislative politics, notes that colonial officials frequently dominated LegCos during their existence.

[16] Eventually, as British colonial rule began to wane, Seretse Khama met with the African members of the council in 1962 to form the Bechuanaland Democratic Party (BDP).

[5] Though many African countries experienced decades of single-party rule until the 1990s, Botswana has had 5 peaceful presidential transitions and consistent multi-party democracy since independence.

During the 1990s, urbanization and the sudden prominence of the mining sector weakened the BDP’s agriculturally centered political base.

[13] Then, in 2002, speaker Ray Molomo echoed this motion when he asked a special team to look into forming a National Assembly independent of the executive.

[2] More recently during the 2010s, concern over the executive's power led an opposition party - Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) - to accuse BDP of autocracy.

Although women candidates are usually competitive in elections, it is often difficult for them to advance past the primary stage for political parties.

In order to address this problem, president Mokgweetsi Masisi chose to nominate four women to the specially elected seats.

Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, President Masisi called for a six month state of public emergency in order to address the virus.

Yet, even though the National Assembly eventually approved the six month state of public emergency, there was still concern among members of opposition parties because of the powers that it would invest upon the president.

As a result, the debate over approving the state of public emergency was shown on national television for the purpose of improving transparency.

[14] Soon after, Botswana's National Assembly drew international attention because all members of Parliament, including the President, were forced to quarantine due to exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

[23] Regarding voter safety, 89% of Afrobarometer survey respondents expressed that they were able to vote freely without external pressure.

[11][10] Yet, even though the BDP has received consistent support (especially from rural constituencies), there is evidence that elections are growing more competitive over time.

[6] Then, during the 2019 elections, former President Ian Khama switched loyalty and endorsed the opposition party Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).

[20] Additionally, the 2019 Afrobarometer survey showed that 63% of people - 64% of women and 62% of men - voted in the 2014 parliamentary elections.