Nkange (Botswana constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nkange | |
|---|---|
| Single-member constituency for the National Assembly | |
.svg) | |
| District | Central District |
| Population | 55,418 |
| Major settlements | Nkange |
| Area | 4,558km2 |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1965 |
| Party | BCP |
| MP | Motlhaleemang Moalosi |
| Margin of victory | 2,634 (12.2 pp) |
Nkange is a constituency in the Central District represented in the National Assembly of Botswana by Motlhaleemang Moalosi a Botswana Congress Party (BCP) MP since 2024.
Situated in the northeast of the Central District of Botswana, the Nkange constituency was established in 1965 for the country's inaugural elections and is one of Botswana's longest extant constituencies.
The constituency was historically a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) stronghold. From 1965 to 2014, the BDP consistently garnered an average of 63% of the vote, with its predominance being strongly challenged by the Botswana Progressive Union in 1984, 1989 and 1994. Since the turn of the century, the BDP's decline continued to wane.
In 2019, echoing a broader trend within the district, a significant political realignment occurred in the country 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 had some impact on the constituency's voting patterns, though not as much as the more Ngwato-populated constituencies such as Shoshong but was nevertheless enough to flip the constituency to the Umbrella for Democratic Change.[1][2] It was the first time an opposition party won Nkange. The UDC lost the seat to the BCP the seat in 2024, making it one of only two constituencies that did not return a sitting UDC MP that election; the other being Selebi-Phikwe West. This was due to Motlhaleemang Moalosi running an intensive campaign there.
The constituency, predominantly rural, encompasses the following villages:[3]