from the office of the President. Then, in 2002, speaker Ray Molomo echoed this motion when he asked a special team to look into forming a National Assembly independent of the executive. More recently during the 2010's, concern over the executive's power led an opposition party - Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) - to accuse BDP of autocracy. Along with this concern about BDP’s dominance is also anxiety about the few women MPs in the National Assembly. After the 2009 national elections when only two women were directly elected to the assembly, some political scientists like Gretchen Bauer expressed worry over how the representation of women was not increasing over time. Although women candidates are usually competitive in elections, it is often difficult for them to advance past the primary stage for political parties. Additionally, along this vein of representation, scholars like research fellow James Kirby have also expressed that there is little space for minority ethnic groups like the Basarwa to express their opinions within the National Assembly. After the 2019 general elections, the concern over the few women MPs resurfaced once again as only 3 women were elected to the National Assembly. In order to address this problem, president Mokgweetsi Masisi chose to nominate four women to the specially elected seats. Among the members nominated was notable human rights activist Dr. Unity Dow and financial official Peggy Serame. Following these nominations, a different significant event for the National Assembly occurred in March of 2020. Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, President Masisi called for a six month state of public emergency in order to address the virus. This was only the second state of public emergency declaration in Botswana’s history. Yet, even though the National Assembly eventually approved the six month state of public emergency, there was still concern among members of opposition parties because of the powers that it would invest upon the president. As a result, the debate over approving the state of public emergency was shown on national television for the purpose of improving transparency. Soon after, Botswana's National Assembly drew international attention because all members of Parliament, including the President, were forced to quarantine due to exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Elections Processes and trends The National Assembly is the only part of the Batswana National Government that private citizens elect. Botswana uses a First-past-the-post system for elections whereby candidates with the most votes win