Serowe West

Serowe West is a constituency in the Central District represented by Onalepelo Kedikilwe, a BPF MP in the National Assembly of Botswana since 2023.

Serowe West lies in the Central District and is primarily rural, with the main settlement being the village of Serowe. The constituency is part of the three historically safe BDP seats that flipped to the BPF and had an average swing of 76.7pp towards the BPF.^[1] This shift was attributed to the fact that the BaNgwato tribe, of which the Khama family is the royal family, resides in the Serowe area. Prior to Ian Khama's departure from the BDP, the constituency consistently voted for the party by significant margins. However, following the fallout between Ian Khama and President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Khama encouraged people in the Serowe region to vote for the newly formed BPF and this message strongly resonated with the locals. His brother, Tshekedi Khama held onto the seat at the 2019 general election under the BPF banner, the first time the constituency returned a non-BDP MP.^[2]

Serowe West was the constituency of Botswana's fourth President, Ian Khama, from 2004 until his ascension to the presidency in 2008 as sitting presidents cannot simultaneously be an elected member of the National Assembly since a constitutional amendment in place since 1974. The constituency was named Serowe North West from its inaugural election in 2004 until the 2014 where it has since kept its current name. The constituency has the following localities:^[3]

1. Parts of Serowe
2. Malatswai
3. Mmashoro
4. Dimajwe

Key:   BDP   BPF

Note: UDC vote share is compared to the vote share of the BNF in 2009.