GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — Polls have opened in an election in Botswana and the country is set to decide if one of Africa’s longest-ruling parties stays in power for another five-year term. The Botswana Democratic Party has been in power in the southern African nation for 58 years since independence from Britain in 1966. Wednesday’s one-day election will decide the makeup of Parliament and lawmakers will later elect the president. President Mokgweetsi Masisi, a 63-year-old former high school teacher and United Nations employee, is seeking a second and final term. Botswana has been held up as one of Africa’s success stories as a stable democracy but it’s facing new economic challenges that have pushed the BDP to concede that policy change is needed.
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