by Joseph Ngwawi – SANF 07 No 13
The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) was declared as the winner of the 2007 general elections, winning most of the 80 contested constituencies in a 17 February poll.
In final results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on 20 February, the LCD won in 61 of the directly contested constituencies while its main challenger, the All Basotho Convention (ABC) came second with 17 seats and the Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) got one seat.
The LCD, led by Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, has been in power since May 1998.
The ABC was formed in October 2006 by former communications minister, Thomas Thabane, who, together with 18 other parliamentarians, resigned from the LCD government after complaining of non-delivery.
Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy in which King Letsie III serves a largely ceremonial function.
According to the country’s constitution, the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly automatically becomes prime minister.
The country uses the dual electoral system under which 40 more parliamentary seats are allocated on the basis of proportional representation system. Under the system, the party with the largest number of elected candidates will get the biggest share of the 40 extra seats.
Thus, the LCD should pick up at least 30 more seats, giving it more than 75 percent of the 120 seats in parliament.
The 17 February Lesotho general elections were declared “credible, free and fair”.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observer Mission praised the Basotho people for their high level of political maturity during the elections.
John Chiligati, head of the SADC mission and Minister of Labour, Employment and Youth Development in Tanzania, said this was evidenced by the peaceful behaviour of political leaders and their supporters during the voting process.
“There has been no reported violence at polling stations, even though voters queued for long hours in the heat,” he said.
The SADC observer mission had teams deployed to most of the 80 constituencies being contested during the Lesotho polls.
In the run-up to the election, the SADC mission had meetings with various stakeholders, including political parties, the IEC and civil society groups “in order to comprehend the election environment and related organisational matters from as many sources as possible.”
Lesotho was the seventh country to use the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Elections, adopted in 2004, to run its elections.
Under the guidelines, SADC member states have agreed to guarantee the full participation of all their citizens in their country’s political processes.
This includes, among others, the need for political tolerance; regular intervals for elections as provided for by the respective national Constitutions; equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media; and equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for.
Other member states where the guidelines have already been used are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mauritius, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) declared that the polls allowed the Basotho people to express their will freely.
“The mission notes and commends the peaceful environment within which the election was held. All parties and candidates were free to express themselves and there were no unreasonable impediments to campaigning,” said the EISA mission.
The EISA team noted that although Lesotho witnessed “an increase in suspected politically motivated killings and assassination attempts which created insecurity within the nation,” the atmosphere was generally peaceful on polling day.
The mission was led by former Botswana president, Ketumile Masire, and comprised representatives of electoral commissions, civil society organisations and academic institutions from seven countries in the region.
These were Lesotho’s sixth polls since independence from Britain in 1966. Previous post-independence elections were held in 1970, 1985, 1993, 1998 and 2002.
