Botswana National Front
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The Botswana National Front (or BNF) is the main opposition party in Botswana. At the last elections, on 30 October 2004, the party won 26.1% of the popular vote and 12 out of 57 seats.
The BNF was founded in 1965 during a period of intense economic growth in the newly-independent Botswana. The increased commercial exploitation of natural resources, especially a large diamond industry, provided the revenue needed to fund social welfare initiatives for the benefit of the population. Despite this booming economy, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party increasingly came to be challenged in the 1970's and 1980's by a loose BNF alliance between conservative tribal leaders and socialists concerned over the bourgeois policies of the government. In 1994, 13 BNF candidates were elected as members of the National Assembly, the first time that the party had been represented nationally. By this point the party had adopted the motto "Time for change". The electoral success and change of motto largely reflected decreased standard of living, civil unrest and rising levels of AIDS in the country.
The party is currently led by Otsweletse Moupo, with some of its past leaders including Chief Bathoen and Kenneth Koma. Moupo himself has emphasized the need to help the poor escape from poverty. Accordingly, the party operates largely on the ideology of social democracy, and is an observer member of the Socialist International. There have been a number of internal squables in the party due largely to factionalism. This has led to the splitting of the party a number of times, culminating in the formation of splinter parties such as Botswana Congress Party, whose political ideologies are not appreciably different from that of the BNF. The party can do much bettr in parliamentary seats but due to its leadership instability it will not do anything to complete this.
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