![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 120 seats to the National Assembly 61 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() |
---|
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Lesotho |
Monarchy |
Government |
|
|
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]
Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is an enclaved country–the only one in the world outside of the Italian peninsula–within the border of South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru.
The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Lesotho's bicameral Parliament.
The Parliament of Lesotho consists of two chambers:
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%.
Mixed-member proportional (MMP) representation is a mixed electoral system in which voters get two votes: one to decide the representative for their single-seat constituency, and one for a political party. Seats in the legislature are filled firstly by the successful constituency candidates, and secondly, by party candidates based on the percentage of nationwide or region-wide votes that each party received. The constituency representatives are elected using first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) or another plurality/majoritarian system. The nationwide or region-wide party representatives are, in most jurisdictions, drawn from published party lists, similar to party-list proportional representation. To gain a nationwide representative, parties may be required to achieve a minimum number of constituency candidates, a minimum percentage of the nationwide party vote, or both.
The Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) is the military of Kingdom of Lesotho, which consists of about 3,000 personnel and is tasked with maintaining internal security, territorial integrity, and defending the constitution of Lesotho. Since the mountainous kingdom is completely landlocked by South Africa, in practice the country's external defence is guaranteed by its larger neighbour, so the armed forces are mainly used for internal security. The LDF is an army with a small air wing.
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which multiple political parties cooperate, reducing the dominance of any one party within that "coalition". The usual reason for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament. A coalition government might also be created in a time of national difficulty or crisis to give a government the high degree of perceived political legitimacy or collective identity it desires while also playing a role in diminishing internal political strife. In such times, parties have formed all-party coalitions. If a coalition collapses, a confidence vote is held or a motion of no confidence is taken.
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]
Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili is a former Mosotho politician who retired in January 2019. He was Prime Minister of Lesotho from May 1998 to June 2012 and again from March 2015 to June 2017. He led the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), to a near-total victory in the 1998 election, and under his leadership the party also won majorities in the 2002 and 2007 elections. While serving as Prime Minister, Mosisili was also Minister of Defense.
The Democratic Congress is a political party in Lesotho that split from the Lesotho Congress for Democracy. It is led by Mathibeli Mokhothu.
The All Basotho Convention (ABC) is a political party in Lesotho. The party was formed in October 2006 and is headed by Tom Thabane, a former minister in the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) led government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
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.
Lieutenant-General Maaparankoe Mahao was a Basotho General. His appointment as Commander of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) in 2014 and the resultant refusal of his predecessor, Kennedy Tlali Kamoli to evacuate the post, ignited a season of political instability in Lesotho. After Kamoli's return to the post, Mahao was murdered by soldiers under suspicious circumstances.
A coup d'état, also known as a putsch, a golpe, or simply as a coup, means the overthrow of an existing government; typically, this refers to an illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power by a dictator, the military, or a political faction.
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]
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] The 40 proportional seats are allocated on a compensatory system, in order to reflect the number of votes received by each party. [12]
A first-past-the-post electoral system is one in which voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. This is sometimes described as winner takes all. First-past-the-post voting is a plurality voting method. FPTP is a common, but not universal, feature of electoral systems with single-member electoral divisions, and is practiced in close to one third of countries. Notable examples include Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as most of their current or former colonies and protectorates.
Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.
Thabane said that he would run again seeking a new mandate after signing the Maseru Facilitation Declaration. [13]
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]
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constituency | PR | Total | |||||
Democratic Congress | 218,573 | 38.37 | 37 | 10 | 47 | –1 | |
All Basotho Convention | 215,022 | 37.75 | 40 | 6 | 46 | +16 | |
Lesotho Congress for Democracy | 56,467 | 9.91 | 2 | 10 | 12 | –14 | |
Basotho National Party | 31,508 | 5.53 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +2 | |
Popular Front for Democracy | 9,829 | 1.73 | 0 | 2 | 2 | –1 | |
Reformed Congress of Lesotho | 6,731 | 1.18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | New | |
National Independent Party | 5,404 | 0.95 | 0 | 1 | 1 | –1 | |
Marematlou Freedom Party | 3,413 | 0.60 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
Basutoland Congress Party | 2,721 | 0.48 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
Lesotho People's Congress | 1,951 | 0.34 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
Basotho Democratic National Party | 1,901 | 0.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | |
All Democratic Cooperation | 1,689 | 0.30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Basotho Batho Democratic Party | 1,285 | 0.23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | |
Hamore Democratic Party | 1,265 | 0.22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Baena | 1,259 | 0.22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Lekhotla La Mekhoa le Moetlo | 1,008 | 0.18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Community Freedom Movement | 941 | 0.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Progressive Democrats | 751 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Basotho African National Congress | 582 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Lesotho Workers' Party | 577 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | |
Tsebe Social Democrats | 531 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | |
African Unity Movement | 390 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
White Horse Party | 174 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Independents | 5,651 | 0.99 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |
Invalid/blank votes | 7,754 | – | – | – | – | – | |
Total | 577,377 | 100 | 80 | 40 | 120 | – | |
Registered voters/turnout | 1,209,192 | 47.75 | – | – | – | – | |
Source: IEC Lesotho, Election Passport |
District | DC | ABC | LCD | BNP | Others |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Butha-Buthe District | 33.14 | 41.85 | 9.09 | 2.23 | 13.69 |
Leribe District | 29.28 | 39.19 | 17.54 | 4.74 | 9.25 |
Berea District | 28.47 | 50.10 | 9.15 | 5.25 | 7.03 |
Maseru District | 35.01 | 49.72 | 4.75 | 4.55 | 6.97 |
Mafeteng District | 41.44 | 30.80 | 14.78 | 3.50 | 9.48 |
Mohale's Hoek District | 54.28 | 27.06 | 7.21 | 3.76 | 7.69 |
Quthing District | 51.34 | 10.65 | 11.90 | 21.04 | 5.07 |
Qacha's Nek District | 80.90 | 5.29 | 4.46 | 6.96 | 2.39 |
Thaba-Tseka District | 44.09 | 22.38 | 9.32 | 6.37 | 18.01 |
Mokhotlong District | 39.19 | 32.08 | 11.28 | 7.71 | 9.74 |
The history of people living in the area now known as Lesotho goes back as many as 40,000 years. The present Lesotho emerged as a single polity under paramount chief Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Under Moshoeshoe I, Basutoland joined other tribes in their struggle against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828.
Politics of Lesotho takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Lesotho is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of Parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The Lesotho Congress for Democracy is a political party in Lesotho.
Thomas Motsoahae "Tom" Thabane is a Mosotho politician who has been Prime Minister of Lesotho since June 2017. Previously he was Prime Minister from June 2012 to March 2015. He is leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) political party.
Monyane Moleleki is a Lesotho politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Lesotho, as well as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, since 2017. As a leading figure in the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), Moleleki was Minister of Natural Resources from 1993 to 1994, Minister of Information from 1996 to 1998, Minister of Natural Resources from 1998 to 2004, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2007, and Minister of Natural Resources from 2007 to 2012. After breaking with the LCD, Moleleki served as Deputy Leader of the Democratic Congress and was Minister of Police from 2015 to 2016. He left the Democratic Congress and launched a new party, the Alliance of Democrats, in 2017.
Clement Ntsu Sejabanana Mokhehle was a Lesotho politician. He served as the 3rd Prime Minister of the country from 2 April 1993 to 17 August 1994 and from 14 September 1994 to 29 May 1998.
Ntlhoi Motsamai is a Lesotho politician who has been the Speaker of the National Assembly twice; first, from 1999 to 2012, then from March 2015 to June 2017. Motsamai worked as a teacher before entering politics.
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 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. 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.
General elections were held in Lesotho on 26 May 2012. The incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's newly formed Democratic Congress 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.
On 30 August 2014, Lesotho's Prime Minister Tom Thabane alleged that a coup d'état had been launched against him. This followed a previous allegation which caused him to suspend parliament over possible extra-constitutional manoeuvres. It also followed pressure from South Africa to maintain the democratic process. The next day, Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing assumed responsibility for running the government. An early election was held in February 2015 as a result of South African-led Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediation, giving power to the opposition.
Mothetjoa Metsing is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Lesotho. He is a member of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and serves in the government of Prime Minister Tom Thabane. In 2014, he was involved in controversy over an alleged coup attempt against the prime minister that was eventually resolved over calls for an early election.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
Early general elections were held in Lesotho on 3 June 2017 to elect all 120 seats of the National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament. The elections were called more than three years ahead of schedule due to a successful vote of no confidence against the incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
The Alliance of Democrats (AD) is a political party in Lesotho.