General elections were held in
Lesotho on 7 October 2022 to elect all 120 members of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
, the lower house of the
Parliament of Lesotho
The Parliament of Lesotho () is the national legislature of Lesotho and consists of two chambers: the Senate (upper chamber) and the National Assembly ( lower chamber).
See also
*Politics of Lesotho
*List of legislatures by country
External l ...
.
Background
The
previous general elections in 2017 were called after prime minister
Pakalitha Mosisili lost a vote of no confidence. In the election, the
All Basotho Convention (ABC), led by
Tom Thabane
Thomas Motsoahae Thabane (born 28 May 1939) is a Mosotho politician who was the fifth prime minister of Lesotho from 2012 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2020. He founded the All Basotho Convention (ABC) in 2006 and led the party until 2022.
Thabane s ...
, won 48 seats. The
Democratic Congress (DC) led by Mosisili won 30 seats, the
Lesotho Congress for Democracy party (LCD) secured 11 seats whilst numerous minor parties won 27. The ABC won three additional seats; however, the results of those constituencies were declared null and void due to the deaths of some candidates contesting those seats. Following the election, the ABC announced its intention to form coalition government with the Reformed Congress of Lesotho, the
Alliance of Democrats and the
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 ...
. The new government was sworn in on 16 June and Thabane assumed office as prime minister.
Thabane's estranged wife,
Lipolelo, was murdered shortly before his inauguration.
In 2020, Thabane began to face pressure to step down due to his alleged role in Lipolelo's murder. The coalition government subsequently collapsed after ABC's alliance partners withdrew their support. Thabane resigned from the premiership in May, and finance minister
Moeketsi Majoro succeeded him. The ABC then formed another government with the Basotho National Party. Thabane later resigned as leader of the ABC, and in February 2022, the party elected Nkaku Kabi to succeed him.
Majoro did not contest the ABC primaries, while several ABC ministers lost their nominations.
Electoral system
The 120 members of the National Assembly are elected using the
mixed-member proportional representation system, with voters casting two votes. Eighty members are elected from single-member constituencies by
first-past-the-post voting
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
, with the remaining 40 elected from a single nationwide constituency as
leveling seats, which are allocated to make seat totals reflect the national vote share. Any party winning more seats in the single-member constituencies than their national vote share entitles them to will not be awarded more seats.
Conduct
Polling stations opened at 07:00. Delegations from the
African Union, 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 ...
, 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 ...
and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
were present to observe the elections.
Voting concluded at 17:00. Whilst there were no reports of significant upheavals to the electoral process, polling stations turned away several individuals whose names were not present on the electoral roll. Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) director, Mpaiphele Maqutu, said turnout was higher than in previous elections. However, the IEC did acknowledge that participation in some rural regions was low, with a lighter voter presence in places such as
Thaba-Tseka
Thaba-Tseka is the capital city or camptown of the Thaba-Tseka District in Lesotho. It has a population of 15,248 (2016 census).
Thaba-Tseka was also the subject of the case studies in James Ferguson's book ''The Anti-Politics Machine'', which i ...
.
Opinion polls
Results
The elections were postponed in the Stadium Area constituency following the death of the Basotholand Total Liberation Congress candidate.
The ruling All Basotho Convention lost all its constituency seats, including that of party leader Nkaku Kabi. Although the Democratic Congress party ran its campaign opposing the ABC, the party's recent support for the coalition government allowed the new Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party to seem more credible as a new start.
Aftermath
On 11 October,
Revolution for Prosperity
Revolution for Prosperity () is a social liberal political party in Lesotho led by millionaire businessman Sam Matekane.
History
The party was launched by Sam Matekane on 22 March 2022.
According to the preliminary results of the 2022 Lesoth ...
leader
Sam Matekane
Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane (born 15 March 1958) is a Mosotho businessman and politician who is serving as Prime Minister of Lesotho as of 28 October 2022. Prior to running he was considered to be the richest person in the country. Matekane has made ...
announced that his party had reached a coalition agreement with the
Alliance of Democrats and the
Movement for Economic Change. Matekane will lead the government as Prime Minister.
PM Majoro submitted his formal resignation to the King on 14 October; the King accepted, and asked Majoro to remain until the new PM was inaugurated. This occurred on 28 October after the new parliament was sworn in.
References
{{Lesotho elections
Lesotho
General election
Elections in Lesotho
Lesotho
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results