The Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) is a

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

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 Frisbie-Fulton (2003) ''Historical Dictionary of Lesotho'', Scarecrow Press, p. 222. Soon after its formation several members of the

Basutoland Congress Party The Basutoland Congress Party is a pan-Africanist and left-wing political party in Lesotho. The Basutoland African Congress (BAC) was founded in 1952 by Ntsu Mokhehle and Potlako Leballo. The party was renamed the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP ...

defected to the MFP. When former MTP leader Seepheephe Matete was replaced as party president by Seth Makotoko he broke away to re-establish the MTP as a separate party.Rosenberg et al., p. 223. Both contested the 1965 general elections, with the MFP winning four seats with 16.5% of the vote and the MTP no seats with 2.2% of the vote. In the 1970 general elections the party's vote share fell to 7%, resulting in it being reduced to a single seat. When multi-party democracy was restored in the 1990s the party contested the 1993 elections, receiving 1.4% of the vote and failing to win a seat. It remained seatless after receiving 1.3% of the vote in the

1998 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1998. Africa * 1998 Burkinabé presidential election * 1998 Central African parliamentary election * 1998 Gabonese presidential election * 1998 Guinean presidential election * 1998 Lesotho general elect ...

. Despite its vote share falling to 1.2% in the

2002 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2002. * 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2002 Comorian presidential election * 2002 East Timorese presidential election * 2002 Fijian municipal election * 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election * ...

, the party won a seat due to the new proportional electoral system. It retained the single seat in the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2015 elections Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

Electoral Performance

References

Political parties in Lesotho 1962 establishments in Basutoland Political parties established in 1962 {{Lesotho-party-stub