BCP postpones Francistown region primary elections

FRANCISTOWN: The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has postponed its primary elections in the Francistown region and re-scheduled them for next year February, North Cast has been informed.
Initially, all the party primary elections for next year’s general elections were supposed to be held in November, but were postponed upon realization that most of the electorates are confused because of the looming Francistown West bye-elections. Those close to the development told North Cast that the party leadership postponed the Francistown primaries after a proposal from the Francistown region.

 
According to an insider, the confusion in the Francistown region is brought by the fact that the bye-election and the primary election were both scheduled for the same month, a move which has brought division in the region as most of the aspiring candidates are now busy with their campaigns for the primary elections and have forgotten about the bye-elections. The source says the party leadership feels that they should be given first priority by all members in the region.

 
He further revealed that while the leadership has called on the members in Francistown to support their candidate, Dr Habaudi Hubona in the bye-elections. Apparently some members are reluctant to do so because they did not want her but preferred Councilor for Itekeng ward, Professor Tlou who Dr Hubona defeated in the primaries for the bye-elections. “It seems like these bye-elections have divided the region because some members no longer care about them,” he said.

 
Chairperson of the Francistown region, Samuel Moribame confirmed the development when reached for comment but refuted allegations that there are divisions within the region. He told North Cast that the postponement was only made in an effort to focus on the Francistown West bye-elections which are scheduled for November 23.

 
“As the region, we made this proposal to the executive committee upon realization that there was lot of confusion in region which was brought by the two campaigns that are ongoing. Most of the people were confused because while some are campaigning for the bye-elections, on the other hand, some were busy with the primary elections. So this alone made us to come up with a strategy that can work for all of us, which is to postpone the primary elections and focus on bye-elections,” he explained.

 
However, Moribame said that the members of the region should not be worried by this development as it was only made for the benefit of the party. “There are no divisions at all, so this is only a strategic move because we want to win this constituency,” he stressed.