General elections were held in
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...
on 26 May 2012. The incumbent Prime Minister
Pakalitha Mosisili
Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili (born 14 March 1945) is a former Mosotho politician who was the fourth prime minister of Lesotho from May 1998 to June 2012 and again from March 2015 to June 2017.[Democratic Congress
The Democratic Congress is a political party in Lesotho that split from the Lesotho Congress for Democracy. It is led by Mathibeli Mokhothu.
History
Before the 2012 election, the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy split, with Prime Minis ...]
won a majority of single-member seats. He also won his seat by the second-largest margin of victory.
However, they only had a plurality in the overall tally and coalition talks are taking place.
Background
As a result of the
impact of the Arab Spring
The impact of the Arab Spring concerns protests or by the way attempts to organize growing protest movements that were inspired by or similar to the Arab Spring in the Arab-majority states of North Africa and the Middle East, according to commen ...
in 2011, protests occurred against the government in regard to unemployment, poverty and low salaries. The protests eventually had the support of taxi drivers, unions, students and opposition political parties. They also demanded to meet Prime Minister
Pakalitha Mosisili
Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili (born 14 March 1945) is a former Mosotho politician who was the fourth prime minister of Lesotho from May 1998 to June 2012 and again from March 2015 to June 2017.[Lesotho Congress for Democracy
The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) is a political party in Lesotho.
In 1997, Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle left the Basutoland Congress Party to form with his faction the new Lesotho Congress for Democracy. The new party won the 1998 ele ...]
suffered a split because of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Pakalitha Mosisili's refusal to cede power.
He then founded a new party called the
Ntsu Democratic Congress, in reference to the founder of the LCD
Ntsu Mokhehle
Ntsu Mokhehle (26 December 1918 – 6 January 1999) was a Lesotho politician. He founded Basutoland African Congress (BAC) in 1952. He founded Basutoland Congress Party in 1957 then later in 1997 founded Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD). He ...
. The LCD's secretary-general
Mothetjoa Metsing
Mothetjoa Metsing (born 2 February 1967) is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Lesotho. He is a member and current leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD). He served in the government of Prime Minister Tom Thabane between 2012 and 2015 ...
then moved to lead the LCD.
Tom Thabane leads another faction that broke away in 2006, the
All Basotho Convention
The All Basotho Convention (ABC; ) is a political party in Lesotho. The party was formed in October 2006 and founded by Tom Thabane, a former minister in the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) led by the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha ...
, which is expected to benefit from the infighting of the other two parties. Voters' primary demands were reportedly job creation and an improvement in "basic services."
The LCD's Metsing said that he would not take part in a
national unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...
.
In like measure ABC ruled out working with LCD.
Opinion polls
Most polls predicted a plurality for the Democratic Congress. One tribal chief, Mohato Bereng, said that he would vote for change in supporting the Lesotho Congress for Democracy.
Incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili had an approval of rating of 39% a month before the election.
Two days before the election, Mosisili said that DC would get a simple majority.
Conduct
Former Malawian President
Bakili Muluzi
Elson Bakili Muluzi (born March 17, 1943 in Machinga, Nyasaland) is a Malawian politician who was the first freely elected president of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. He was also chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2009. He succeeded ...
, who headed the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
' electoral observer team, said that despite a history of coup d'etats he was assured by the army and police that there would be no interference.
There were also electoral monitoring teams from the
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
and the
Southern African Development Community
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana.
Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...
.
Results
Voting centres were opened from 7:00 at 17:00. Vote counting started at the vote centres in
Maseru
Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. The ...
before they closed. The official results were expected the day after the vote due to the remoteness of some communities.
Maliako Ralejoe of the
Independent Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
said at the end of the day that: "Currently most of the urban areas have been counted, which is a good indicator. We have had challenges with the rural areas as some areas are still counting, but Maseru is complete. We estimate that
n 29 Maywe will be able to announce the final verdict." On 27 May, the IEC suspended the electoral count because of "serious logistical problems." This caused tension in Maseru and opposition parties led by ABC pressured the IEC to release the result.
Voter turnout was 564,451 or 50.04%.
List of elected MPs
* Largest margin of victory by just over 92.9% of votes.
**Won by 33 votes over ABC's Ramoshebi Maboee Moletsane (39 ballots were "rejected").
***Won by 39 votes over DC's Mokhele Stephen Moletsane (19 ballots were "rejected").
****Won by 94 voted over ABC's Tsoinyana Samuel Rapapa (161 ballots were "rejected")
*****Smallest margin of victory by 14 votes over LCD's Doreen Chaoana-Mapetsa (47 ballots were "rejected")
#District capital
##District and national capital
Reactions
Ramahoana Matlosa, who lost his bid to become an MP from Maseru District, sad that the DC failed to attract the youth vote. "Of course we knew the ABC would be strong in urban areas. But if you add our numbers to the LCDs, we would have beaten them. It's just that the ABC had an advantage because their number stayed the same and we split." The AU and SADC monitoring teams said of the election that "we are delighted that the voting and counting took place in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility."
Electoral observers said the election was largely free and fair. The Commonwealth of Nations' Bakili Muluzi said that "we chose democracy in Africa. And we should allow democracy to prevail.
Government formation
An unnamed senior party member of DC said that they had begun coalition talks with ABC, but would also look to open talks with LCD if those failed. He also said that the party could try to lure in individual MPs from the other parties if all options failed, while adding that "we are confident that we will lead the new government. We are also not political buffoons not to know that we have to start serious engagements with any coalition partners immediately."
DC upped their attempts to build a coalition with LCD upon realising they would not get a majority after proportional seats were allocated. Confidantes to ABC's Thabane said that he was confident of winning the seats necessary to head a coalition government with the other parties, who could possibly get a share of the proportionally allocated seats. An unnamed party member said that "we are in serious discussions with the LCD but most will depend on the final tally of the seats. The LCD is our first preference for any coalition as we have all been in the opposition," but that this was subject to the proportional seats being allocated "properly."
On 30 May, ABC's Thabane told the ''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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'' that he had formed a coalition to give him a majority in parliament.
[ His coalition included the LCD, ]Basotho National Party
The Basotho National Party is a political party in Lesotho, founded in 1959 in colonial Basutoland as the Basutoland National Party by Leabua Jonathan. He was Prime Minister from the 1965 general election until the 1986 coup d'état.
In the 1 ...
, Popular Front for Democracy
The Popular Front for Democracy ( st, Khoeetsa ea Sechaba) is a political party in Lesotho.
At the elections for the National Assembly, 25 May 2002, the party won 1.1% of popular votes and 1 out of 120 seats. In the 17 February 2007 parliamenta ...
and the Marematlou Freedom Party
The Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) is a royalist political party in Lesotho.
History
The party was established in December 1962 by a merger of the Freedom Party and the Marema-Tlou Party (MTP).Scott Rosenberg, Richard F Weisfelder & Michell F ...
. He also said that the government's priorities would be "poverty, lack of jobs, lack of school opportunities, absence of schools at the right places, lack of proper infrastructure, particularly health services. We have gone way below what we were a few years ago, and that's inexplicable. We put power in the hands of the wrong people and we are taking it away from them."
Mosisili resigned on 31 May and would be the Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
. Following this Lincoln Ralechate Mokose, the secretary general of DC, said the party would seek coalition partners and that "we will either succeed or fail. f the party failsour stand is to concede and work in parliament as opposition." ABC's secretary-general, Thabiso Litšiba, said it could be a week before the new parliament meets and officially chooses the new Prime Minister.[https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcstP_pElJrdPh6209-w1UOGgx8w?docId=f5636dfc774d4fd39ad72e6531fba1ab ]
Analysis
Prior to the vote, Hoolo 'Nyane, the director of the Transformation Resource Centre, said that the lack of a governing coalition "would be a very disturbing scenario. repeat of the 1998 stand-off and violence which led to the death of 58 locals and eight South African soldiers, as well as large damages in Maseru werenot completely unlikely." He added that "the entire young and urban vote is in revolt against Mosisili."
The coordinator of development for Peace Education, which monitored the election, Sofonea Shale, said that "maybe the politics of arrogance have come to an end, and we'd be turning a new page based on politics of negotiation. A coalition government is highly likely, which is why I'm saying it's time for a new era. A coalition needs parties to negotiate."
On 29 May, the '' Lesotho Times'' reported that the LCD were likely to be "heavily compensated" by the proportionally allotted seats due to finishing second in many constituencies. Most DC votes were in rural areas, while politicians and observers said that an ABC-LCD coalition was likely.
References
External links
Statement of the Independent Electoral Commission on the announcement of the result
- by the Chairperson Molula-Setulo.
Party list candidates for all parties
{{Lesotho elections
Elections in Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...