2015 Lesotho general election

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2015 Lesotho general election
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←  2012 28 February 2015 2017  →
All 120 seats in the National Assembly
61 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeader%Seats+/–
DC Pakalitha Mosisili 38.3747-1
ABC Tom Thabane 37.7546+16
LCD Mothetjoa Metsing 9.9112-14
BNP Thesele Maseribane 5.537+2
PFD 1.732-1
RCL 1.182New
NIP Kimetso Mathaba 0.951-1
MFP 0.6010
BCP 0.4810
LPC Kelebone Maope 0.3410
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister beforePrime Minister after election
Tom Thabane
ABC 		Pakalitha Mosisili
DC

General elections were held in Lesotho on 28 February 2015 for all 120 seats of the National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Lesotho, more than two years ahead of schedule due to the 2014 political crisis. [1] Following mediation facilitated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), [2] King Letsie III on the advice of the incumbent Prime Minister Tom Thabane, dissolved the Eighth Parliament and called a snap election. [3]

Contents

Lesotho uses the mixed-member proportional representation voting system. More than 1.2 million voters had been registered by the Independent Electoral Commission. [4] The army was confined to the barracks on the election day. [5] The opposition Democratic Congress managed to form a coalition government as no party achieved an outright majority. [6] Voter turnout was 48%.

Background

After the 2012 election, Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's Democratic Congress failed to attain a majority; and thus a coalition government was formed among the three opposition parties: All Basotho Convention (ABC), Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and the Basotho National Party (BCP). The government was led by ABC's Tom Thabane, who served as the new Prime Minister; whilst the leader of LCD, Mothetjoa Metsing was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister. [7]

Following political tensions and the suspension of the National Assembly over the controversial change of the head of the army from Lieutenant General Kennedy Tlali Kamoli to Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao, an attempted coup d'état [ citation needed ] forced Prime Minister Tom Thabane to flee the country. He then returned under cover of South African and Namibian police, who guarded him around-the-clock. Under the auspices of the SADC, mediation led by South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa resulted in a call for an early election. The national elections took place on 28 February. [8] Thabane was backed by the national police, while his deputy Mothetjoa Metsing was backed by the army, which refused to recognise the change in army leadership.

On 17 October, the National Assembly reconvened in a bid to avert the political crisis, with Thabane's advisor Tumisang Mosotho saying "It’s a milestone. We want to hope this is the first step in the right direction, in liberating our country from the danger that has surrounded us these past few months". [9] Senate Chief Whip Khoabane Theko said: "This is what we can call maybe the beginning of the process that takes us to the elections, because we are going to have a budget and maybe deliberate other laws... ahead of our elections from here on". [10]

Electoral system

The 120 members of the National Assembly are elected in two groups; 80 are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting, with 40 elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. Voters cast one vote [11] and the 40 proportional seats are allocated in a compensatory system, in order to reflect the number of votes received by each party, making it a variant of the mixed-member proportional electoral system. [12]

Campaign

Thabane said that he would run again seeking a new mandate after signing the Maseru Facilitation Declaration. [13]

Results

Election observer missions were deployed to the kingdom from the African Union, the Commonwealth of Nations and SADC; and were led by former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Botswana President Festus Mogae and South African International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane respectively. [2]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the citizens for conducting a peaceful election. [14] The SADC Election Observer Mission concluded that the elections were "peaceful, transparent, credible, free and fair." [2]

The Democratic Congress formed a coalition government with the Lesotho Congress for Democracy and five other smaller parties as no party achieved an outright majority. Pakalitha Mosisili took over as Prime Minister whilst incumbent Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing retained his position. [6]

Lesotho National Assembly Chart 2015.svg
PartyVotes%Seats
ConstituencyPRTotal+/–
Democratic Congress 218,57338.37371047–1
All Basotho Convention 215,02237.7540646+16
Lesotho Congress for Democracy 56,4679.9121012–14
Basotho National Party 31,5085.53167+2
Popular Front for Democracy 9,8291.73022–1
Reformed Congress of Lesotho 6,7311.18022New
National Independent Party 5,4040.95011–1
Marematlou Freedom Party 3,4130.600110
Basutoland Congress Party 2,7210.480110
Lesotho People's Congress 1,9510.340110
Basotho Democratic National Party 1,9010.33000–1
All Democratic Cooperation1,6890.300000
Basotho Batho Democratic Party 1,2850.23000–1
Hamore Democratic Party1,2650.22000New
Baena1,2590.22000New
Lekhotla La Mekhoa le Moetlo1,0080.180000
Community Freedom Movement9410.17000New
Progressive Democrats7510.13000New
Basotho African National Congress5820.10000New
Lesotho Workers' Party 5770.10000–1
Tsebe Social Democrats5310.09000New
African Unity Movement3900.070000
White Horse Party1740.030000
Independents5,6510.990–00
Total569,623100.0080401200
Valid votes569,62398.66
Invalid/blank votes7,7541.34
Total votes577,377100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,209,19247.75
Source: IEC Lesotho, Election Passport

By district

District DC ABC LCD BNP Others
Butha-Buthe District 33.1441.859.092.2313.69
Leribe District 29.2839.1917.544.749.25
Berea District 28.4750.109.155.257.03
Maseru District 35.0149.724.754.556.97
Mafeteng District 41.4430.8014.783.509.48
Mohale's Hoek District 54.2827.067.213.767.69
Quthing District 51.3410.6511.9021.045.07
Qacha's Nek District 80.905.294.466.962.39
Thaba-Tseka District 44.0922.389.326.3718.01
Mokhotlong District 39.1932.0811.287.719.74

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Thabane</span> Prime Minister of Lesotho, 2012–15 and 2017–20

Thomas Motsoahae Thabane 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.

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References

  1. ↑ "Lesotho votes in elections hoped to resolve tensions". Deutsche Welle. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Statement by SADC EOM" (PDF). Maseru: Southern African Development Community. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Dissolution of the Parliament" (PDF) (Press release). Office of Government Secretary. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
  4. ↑ "Health of the Election Voters Register". Independent Electoral Commission. 10 February 2015. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Army confined to barracks as Lesotho votes". News24. 27 February 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Lesotho's opposition forms coalition after tight election". Reuters. 4 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Will Lesotho election be peaceful?". BBC News. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Jordan, Michael (13 February 2015). "Climate of uncertainty and fear haunts upcoming Lesotho poll". Mail & Guardian . Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Lesotho parliament to reconvene in bid to end crisis Business Day Live, 17 October 2014
  10. ↑ Lesotho Parliament Set to Open on Friday Voice of America, 16 October 2014
  11. ↑ Scott Rosenberg; Richard F. Weisfelder (13 June 2013). Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press. pp. 146–. ISBN   978-0-8108-7982-9.
  12. ↑ Electoral system IPU
  13. ↑ Lesotho PM Thabane to Seek Re-Election Next Year Voice of America, 6 October 2014
  14. ↑ "Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the Parliamentary Elections in Lesotho". United Nations. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
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