ABSTRACT Research on the political history of modern Botswana has generally created the impression of a peaceful transfer of power in which the departing colonial power played only a facilitating role by developing an environment where the popular political party received power legitimately. It has presented the role of the colonial power as limited to providing a policy and administrative framework for political parties to compete for power. This research has not interrogated why the self-government elections of 1965 were used as an instrument of transfer of power, and the legitimacy of this transfer. This article, in a careful analysis of the 1965 elections, reveals that through the management of the transition process and the elections, the colonial power ensured that power was transferred to the moderate Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). More importantly, it argues that the use of the elections (that were clearly meant for self-government) for the purpose of transferring power, was constitutionally inappropriate and was largely driven by the broad aims of British decolonisation strategy. In this way, while not casting doubt on the electoral victory of the BDP, save for its size, the article argues that the BDP probably inherited power in a manner that lacked constitutional legitimacy.