Election of President after dissolution of Parliament

(1) Whenever Parliament is dissolved an election shall be held to the office of President in such manner as is prescribed by this section and, subject thereto, by or under an Act of Parliament. (2) Nominations in the election of a President shall be delivered to the returning officer on such day and at such time as may be prescribed by or under any law for the time being in force in Botswana; the nomination of a candidate in an election of a President shall not be valid unless it is supported, in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament, by not less than 1000 persons registered as voters for the purpose of elections to the Assembly. (3) The following provisions shall then apply— ( a ) a person nominated as a Parliamentary candidate may, at the time of his or her nomination and subject to the provisions of paragraph ( b ), declare in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament which of the candidates in the election of President he or she supports, but the nomination of a Parliamentary candidate shall be valid notwithstanding that the nomination paper does not contain such a declaration; ( b ) such a declaration shall not be made in relation to any Presidential candidate unless that candidate has signified, in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament, his or her consent to the making of a declaration in his or her favour by that Parliamentary candidate; ( c ) where the Parliamentary election is contested in any constituency a poll shall be taken in that constituency at which the votes shall be given by ballot, and for the purposes of that poll any Parliamentary candidate who declared support in accordance with paragraph ( a ) for a particular Presidential candidate shall use the same voting colour and symbol, if any, as may have been allocated under any law for the time being in force in Botswana to that Presidential candidate for the purposes of the Presidential election; ( d ) the returning officer shall declare to be elected as President any candidate for whom support has been declared in accordance with paragraph ( a ) above by not less than such number of persons elected as Members of the National Assembly in the Parliamentary election as corresponds to more than half the total number of seats for Elected Members in the Assembly, and if there is no such person the returning officer shall declare that no candidate has been elected. (4) Parliament may make provision whereby the time for nominating Presidential candidates may be extended in the event of there being no qualified candidate nominated at the expiration of the time for the delivery of such nominations. (5) Where, at the expiration of the time for the delivery of nominations in the election of a President, more than one qualified candidate is validly nominated and any of those candidates dies before the commencement of the poll in the Parliamentary election, the poll in the Parliamentary election shall be countermanded, fresh nominations of Parliamentary candidates shall take place in every constituency and a fresh election of a President shall be held in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section. (6) Where— ( a ) any candidate in an election of a President dies during the period commencing with the taking of the poll in the Parliamentary election and ending when the result of the election has been ascertained and that candidate would, but for his or her death, have been entitled to have been declared elected as President under subsection (3) of this section; or ( b ) the returning officer declares in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3)( d ) of this section that no candidate has been elected, the new National Assembly shall meet on such day (not being more than 14 days after the result of the election is ascertained or, as the case may be, the declaration that no candidate has been elected) as the Speaker shall appoint, and shall elect a person to the office of President in such manner as is prescribed by section 35(5) of this Constitution and subject thereto by or under an Act of Parliament. Such an election shall take place before the election of the Specially Elected Members of the National Assembly. (7) A person elected to the office of President under this section shall assume that office on the day upon which he or she is declared elected. (8) Without prejudice to the provisions of section 92 of this Constitution, an Elected Member of the National Assembly may, in the event of there being one or more successful election petitions following a general election, move, at the first sitting of the Assembly after the resultant by-elections have been decided and the Members thereby elected have taken their seats, that the President does not enjoy the support of the majority of the Elected Members of the Assembly; and in the voting on that question the Specially Elected Members of the Assembly shall have no vote. If it appears as a result of the voting on that question that the President does not enjoy the support of a majority of the elected Members of the Assembly, the office of President shall become vacant. (9) Any Elected Member of the Assembly may give notice to the President that he or she intends to move in the Assembly a motion under subsection (8) and notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution the President shall not after receipt of any such notice be empowered to dissolve Parliament before the conclusion of the sitting of the Assembly mentioned in the said subsection (8). (10) If the office of President becomes vacant in accordance with subsection (8) of this section the seats of the Specially Elected Members of the Assembly shall also become vacant, and the election of a person to the office of President shall take place before the election of the Specially Elected Members. (11) In this section— “Parliamentary candidate” means a candidate in the Parliamentary election; “the Parliamentary election” means the general election to elect those Members of the National Assembly who are referred to in section 58(2)( a ) of this Constitution following any dissolution of Parliament; “Presidential candidate” means a candidate for the office of President; “the returning officer” means the returning officer specified in section 38 of this Constitution.