Shoshong | |
Type: | Single-member |
Parl Name: | National Assembly |
Blank3 Name: | MP |
Blank3 Info: | Aubrey Lesaso |
Blank4 Name: | Margin of victory |
Blank4 Info: | 2,174 (35.4 pp) |
Population: | 31,267[1] |
Year: | 1965 |
Party: | BDP |
Shoshong is a constituency in the Central District represented in the National Assembly of Botswana by Aubrey Lesaso, a BDP MP and Assistant Minister for Tertiary Education, originally elected as a UDC MP in 2019.
Situated in the southeast of the Central District of Botswana, the Shoshong constituency was established in 1965 for the country's inaugural elections and is one of Botswana's longest extant constituencies.
Reflecting the dominant Ngwato population, the constituency was historically a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) stronghold. From 1965 to 2014, the BDP consistently garnered an average of 80% of the vote. However, since the turn of the century, the BDP's dominance began to wane, with its vote share decreasing in each subsequent election.
In 2019, echoing a broader trend within the district, a significant political realignment occurred as Ian Khama, paramount chief of the Ngwato tribe fell out with the incumbent president, Mokgweetsi Masisi and leader of the BDP. This political discord impacted the constituency's voting patterns.[2] [3] The 2019 election saw a significant 22-point swing towards the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) from the BDP, marking their strongest national performance and the first time an opposition party won Shoshong.
The constituency, predominantly rural, encompasses the following villages:[4]
Key:
width=100 | Election | width=175 colspan=2 | Winner |
---|---|---|---|
bgcolor= | Goareng Mosinyi | ||
width=5 bgcolor= | |||
width=5 bgcolor= | |||
width=5 bgcolor= | |||
width=5 bgcolor= | |||
bgcolor= | Esther Mosinyi | ||
bgcolor= | Modibedi Robi | ||
bgcolor= | Gobopang Lefhoko | ||
width=5 bgcolor= | |||
bgcolor= | Dikgang Makgalemele | ||
bgcolor= | |||
bgcolor= | Aubrey Lesaso | ||