General elections were held in Lesotho on 17 February 2007. They had originally been scheduled to be held in April or May 2007. In October 2006,
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 ...
left the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and formed a new party, the All Basotho Convention (ABC), and 17 other members of parliament joined him. This left the LCD with a narrow majority of 61 out of 120 seats. On the advice of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, King Letsie III dissolved parliament on November 24, 2006, and the election was scheduled for February 17, 2007.
Bethuel Thai "Lesotho will go to the polls in February 2007" , Reuters (''IOL''), December 1, 2006. The bringing forward of the date caused dissatisfaction amongst the opposition, which expressed concern that it would not allow sufficient time for campaigning and electoral preparations. It was believed that the election was called early due to the possibility that there would be further defections from the LCD, depriving it of its majority.
80 constituency seats were up for election together with 40 seats allocated by proportional representation. The poll was monitored by the SADC and the American National Democratic Institute.
The electoral commission announced late on 20 February that the LCD had won 61 out of the 80 constituency seats, while the ABC won 17."Lesotho's ruling party wins elections" Xinhua (''People's Daily Online''), February 21, 2007. The Alliance of Congress Parties won one constituency seat, and the vote in Makhaleng was delayed because a candidate there had died. The
National Independent Party
The National Independent Party is a political party in Lesotho.
The NIP was founded by Anthony Manyeli as a split from the Basotho National Party.Lesotho Workers' Party, which is allied with the ABC, won 10 seats through proportional representation. ABC leader
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 ...
called the vote free, but not fair."Win was not fair - opposition" , AFP (''IOL''), February 21, 2007.
An extended dispute has followed the election regarding the allocation of the seats based on proportional representation. Despite acknowledging that the LCD won the election, the ABC has argued that the proportional seats were not allocated correctly. The LCD's reluctance to engage in talks prompted Thabane on October 18, 2007 to threaten street protests to pressure the government into holding a new election "if they continue to fail to co-operate".
Results
By-elections
A by-election was held in Makhaleng on 30 June 2007 to determine the MP of that constituency; it was won by the LCD.LCD wins Makhaleng constituency Lesotho Government Portal, 2 July 2007 Full results for the by-election were:
Parliamentary election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...