Botswana's President Ian Khama secured a new five-year term on Sunday, extending his rule over the world's largest diamond producer, after his governing BDP party swept to victory in a parliamentary election.

Khama's party extended its majority in parliament by capturing one more seat than before Saturday's election.

"I'd like to congratulate the BDP, parliament members and councillors for winning the 2009 election, and also members of the opposition for giving us competition at the election," said Khama, addressing thousands of supporters clad in his party's red colours at a rally in a dusty football pitch in Gaborone.

Chief Justice Julian Nganunu said Khama, son of the country's first president, would remain at the helm of the southern African nation, which is battling a recession and hit by internal party squabbling. "I have the honour and privilege to declare Ian Khama Botswana's president as his party has garnered more than enough seats," Chief Justice Julian Nganunu said on state radio.

To select a president, the winning party needs to win 29 of the 57 parliamentary seats. The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) -in power since independence in 1966 - won 45 of the 57 constituencies, while the main opposition party Botswana National Front won 6 constituencies and its splinter party the Botswana Congress Party captured 4, Osupile Maroba, a spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), told Reuters.

One seat went to the Botswana Alliance Movement, and the final seat went to an independent candidate.
Maroba said Khama would be inaugurated this week.

Botswana has been hit hard as a global economic slowdown cuts demand for diamonds, which account for close to 40 percent of the economy. The landlocked country has sunk into debt and gross domestic product is forecast to shrink 10 percent.

But investors still regard Botswana as one of Africa's gems, with a history of budget surpluses and the region's strongest currency, a sharp contrast to neighbouring Zimbabwe, which is crippled by political and economic turmoil.

Khama is one of the most vocal critics of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's policies, and told South Africa's Financial Mail weekly last week a power-sharing arrangement in Zimbabwe was an affront to democracy.

source: AFP

photo: EPA