Parliament. Looking first at vacated parliamentary seats (Table 1), we do observe that over the past forty years, death has been responsible for ten (40%) of the vacancies. However, six resignations for personal reasons, three resignations to take up other official posts, three resignations for men who ascended to the presidency collectively mean that twelve (48%) of the vacancies were voluntary while one (4%) for a criminal conviction and two vacancies created by election day irregularities (8%) were involuntary. Another way to look at this is that three of vacancies due to death occurred before the first case of HIV/AIDS was identified (i.e., before 1984), and while, as Chirambo (2008) noted, it is impossible to rule out complications from HIV/AIDS as the cause of the four deaths that occurred between 1989 and 2005 on the basis of (or lack of) publicly available information, all four men were political figures with at least twenty years of service to their parties, and thus other diseases to aging were perhaps as likely to have contributed to their deaths. Of the resignations, only the first one in 1965 was identified as related to ill health; the others were all to accept other jobs outside of government. Table 1: Causes of Vacancies/By-Elections in the Botswana National Parliament, 1965-2014 Succeeded Election Resig- to Parliament Death nation Appt Presidency Total 0 1965-69 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1969-74 0* 0 1 0 0 1 0 1974-79 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1979-84 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 1984-89 1 0 1 0 1 4 1 1989-94 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1994-99 2 0 1 1 0 4 0 1999-04 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2004-09 1 2 0 1 0 4 0 2009-14 3 1 0 0 0 4 10 6 3 3 1 2 25 Total *One MP died shortly before the 1974 General Election, but no by-election was held.
Parliament. Looking first at vacated parliamentary seats (Table 1), we do observe that over the past forty years, death has been responsible for ten (40%) of the vacancies. However, six resignations for personal reasons, three resignations to take up other official posts, three resignations for men who ascended to the presidency collectively mean that twelve (48%) of the vacancies were voluntary while one (4%) for a criminal conviction and two vacancies created by election day irregularities (8%) were involuntary. Another way to look at this is that three of vacancies due to death occurred before the first case of HIV/AIDS was identified (i.e., before 1984), and while, as Chirambo (2008) noted, it is impossible to rule out complications from HIV/AIDS as the cause of the four deaths that occurred between 1989 and 2005 on the basis of (or lack of) publicly available information, all four men were political figures with at least twenty years of service to their parties, and thus other diseases to aging were perhaps as likely to have contributed to their deaths. Of the resignations, only the first one in 1965 was identified as related to ill health; the others were all to accept other jobs outside of government. Table 1: Causes of Vacancies/By-Elections in the Botswana National Parliament, 1965-2014 Parliament Death Resig- nation Appt Succeeded to Presidency Election Total 1965-69 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1969-74 0* 0 1 0 0 0 1 1974-79 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1979-84 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1984-89 1 0 1 0 1 1 4 1989-94 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1994-99 2 0 1 1 0 0 4 1999-04 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 2004-09 1 2 0 1 0 0 4 2009-14 3 1 0 0 0 0 4 Total 10 6 3 3 1 2 25 *One MP died shortly before the 1974 General Election, but no by-election was held.
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