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A Botswana court has rejected the president's bid to change vote for vice president

Associated Press
Published | Updated

GABORONE, Botswana – A court in Botswana has dismissed the president's effort to change the process of selecting the vice president.

Opposition parties welcomed the court's decision Friday to keep the vote for vice president by secret ballot, rather than by a public show of hands.

Last week President Ian Khama's lawyers asked the attorney general to request the courts to change parliament's voting procedures.

Opposition parties said the move undermined the legitimacy of parliament.

Khama and his ruling Botswana Democratic Party were re-elected in the Oct. 15 polls, a vote that also gave the opposition the highest number of seats it has ever won.

Khama's party won 37 seats while the Umbrella for Democratic Change won 17 seats.

In Botswana elected members of parliament select the vice president, speaker and deputy speaker.