The National Assembly is the sole legislative body of Botswana's unicameral Parliament, of which consists of the President and the National Assembly. The House passes laws, provides ministers to form Cabinet, and supervises the work of government. It is also responsible for adopting the country's budgets. It is advised by the Ntlo ya Dikgosi, a council of tribal chiefs which is not a house of Parliament. Though there were legislative predecessors to the National Assembly during colonial rule, it was not until independence in 1966 that the National Assembly of Botswana officially formed. Since then, there have been consistent multi-party elections and 5 peaceful presidential transitions. Currently, there are 65 total members of the National Assembly. Voters in single member constituencies directly elect 57 of these members for a term of 5 years through a plurality (or first-past-the-post) system. Six members, meanwhile, are nominated by the President and elected by the assembly. Finally, the remaining two (the President and Speaker of the National Assembly) are ex officio. Despite the presence of consistent elections, the National Assembly has not escaped criticism. In every election since the founding elections in 1965, the Botswana Democratic Party has won a majority of seats in the legislative body. As a result, an inter-party power transition has not occurred. Additionally, political science scholars have sometimes expressed concern about the National Assembly because of its few women MPs and its interconnectedness with the executive. Role and structure The National Assembly of Botswana is part of the legislative branch of Botswana’s National Government and thus has the primary role of debating and passing bills. Always constituting the National Assembly are 57 members elected by voters from single-member constituencies. Along with these elected members are also six members nominated by the President and specially elected to their positions by the National Assembly. Finally, there are also up to two ex-officio members - one of which is always the President. Originally, the purpose of the specially elected members was to create representation in the National Assembly for minority groups of the country. Later, the MPs would typically reserve these spots for people with sought-after skills. More recently, however, the specially elected seats have primarily served as a way for the majority party to increase its number of seats in the assembly. Among the members of the National Assembly are also a Speaker, a Deputy Speaker, and a Leader of the