2015 Lesotho general election

none Lesotho 2012 28 February 2015 2017 All 120 seats in the National Assembly 61 47.75% ( 2.29pp) Democratic Congress Pakalitha Mosisili 38.37 47 48 All Basotho Convention Tom Thabane 37.75 46 30 Lesotho Congress for Democracy Mothetjoa Metsing 9.91 12 26 Basotho National Party Thesele Maseribane 5.53 7 5 Popular Front for Democracy Lekhetho Rakuoane 1.73 2 3 Reformed Congress of Lesotho 1.18 2 new National Independent Party Kimetso Mathaba 0.95 1 2 Marematlou Freedom Party 0.60 1 1 Basutoland Congress Party 0.48 1 1 Lesotho People's Congress Kelebone Maope 0.34 1 1 Prime Minister Tom Thabane All Basotho Convention Prime Minister after election Pakalitha Mosisili Democratic Congress 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.http://www.dw.de/lesotho-votes-in-elections-hoped-to-resolve-tensions/a-18286459 Lesotho votes in elections hoped to resolve tensions 28 February 2015 Deutsche Welle 2 March 2015 Following mediation facilitated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC),http://www.sadc.int/files/4814/2536/7810/SEOM_STATEMENT_LESOTHO_final_-_02.03.2015.pdf Statement by SADC EOM PDF 2 March 2015 Maseru Southern African Development Community 2 March 2015 King Letsie III on the advice of the incumbent Prime Minister Tom Thabane, dissolved the Eighth Parliament and called a snap election.4 December 2014 Dissolution of the Parliament http://www.sadc.int/files/2614/1810/9360/Press_release_on_the_Dissolution_of_the_Parliament_En.pdf PDF Office of Government Secretary 2015-03-02 Lesotho uses the mixed-member proportional representation voting system. More than 1.2 million voters had been registered by the Independent Electoral Commission.http://www.iec.org.ls/index.php/elections/documents/health-of-the-election-voters-register Health of the Election Voters Register 10 February 2015 Independent Electoral Commission 27 February 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150227202355/http://www.iec.org.ls/index.php/elections/documents/health-of-the-election-voters-register 27 February 2015 dead The army was confined to the barracks on the election day.http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Army-confined-to-barracks-as-Lesotho-votes-20150227 Army confined to barracks as Lesotho votes 27 February 2015 News24 3 March 2015 4 March 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150304091808/http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Army-confined-to-barracks-as-Lesotho-votes-20150227 dead The opposition Democratic Congress managed to form a coalition government as no party achieved an outright majority.https://af.reuters.com/article/lesothoNews/idAFL5N0W60RX20150304?sp=true https://web.archive.org/web/20150402120619/http://af.reuters.com/article/lesothoNews/idAFL5N0W60RX20150304?sp=true dead 2 April 2015 Lesotho's opposition forms coalition after tight election 4 March 2015 Reuters 4 March 2015 Voter turnout was 48%. Background 2014 Lesotho political crisis 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.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31643701 Will Lesotho election be peaceful? 27 February 2015 BBC News 2 March 2015 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 March 2015 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.http://mg.co.za/article/2015-02-13-00-climate-of-uncertainty-andfear-haunts-upcoming-lesotho-poll Climate of uncertainty and fear haunts upcoming Lesotho poll Jordan Michael 13 February 2015 Mail & Guardian 1 March 2015 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".Lesotho parliament to reconvene in bid to end crisis https://web.archive.org/web/20141019191011/http://www.bdlive.co.za/africa/africannews/2014/10/17/lesotho-parliament-to-reconvene-in-bid-to-end-crisis 2014-10-19 Business Day Live, 17 October 2014 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".Lesotho Parliament Set to Open on Friday Voice of America, 16 October 2014 Electoral system The 120 members of the National Assembly were elected in two groups using a mixed single vote with seat linkage system for mixed-member proportional representation. Eighty members were elected from single-member constituencies via the first-past-the-post voting system, with 40 elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. Voters cast one voteScott Rosenberg Richard F. Weisfelder Historical Dictionary of Lesotho https://books.google.com/books?id=B2TWVN92hYYC&pg=PA146 13 June 2013 Scarecrow Press 978-0-8108-7982-9 146– and the 40 proportional seats were allocated in a compensatory system, in proportion to the number of votes received by each party.Electoral system IPU Campaign Thabane said that he would run again seeking a new mandate after signing the Maseru Facilitation Declaration.Lesotho PM Thabane to Seek Re-Election Next Year Voice of America, 6 October 2014 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. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the citizens for conducting a peaceful election.https://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=8426 Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the Parliamentary Elections in Lesotho 1 March 2015 United Nations 2 March 2015 The SADC Election Observer Mission concluded that the elections were "peaceful, transparent, credible, free and fair." 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. File:Lesotho National Assembly Chart 2015.svg Constituency PR Total +/– Democratic Congress 218573 37 10 47 –1 All Basotho Convention 215022 40 6 46 +16 Lesotho Congress for Democracy 56467 2 10 12 –14 Basotho National Party 31508 1 6 7 +2 Popular Front for Democracy 9829 0 2 2 –1 Reformed Congress of Lesotho 6731 0 2 2 New National Independent Party 5404 0 1 1 –1 Marematlou Freedom Party 3413 0 1 1 0 Basutoland Congress Party 2721 0 1 1 0 Lesotho People's Congress 1951 0 1 1 0 Basotho Democratic National Party 1901 0 0 0 –1 All Democratic Cooperation 1689 0 0 0 0 Basotho Batho Democratic Party 1285 0 0 0 –1 Hamore Democratic Party 1265 0 0 0 New Baena 1259 0 0 0 New Lekhotla La Mekhoa le Moetlo 1008 0 0 0 0 Community Freedom Movement 941 0 0 0 New Progressive Democrats 751 0 0 0 New Basotho African National Congress 582 0 0 0 New Lesotho Workers' Party 577 0 0 0 –1 Tsebe Social Democrats 531 0 0 0 New African Unity Movement 390 0 0 0 0 White Horse Party 174 0 0 0 0 Independents 5651 0 – 0 0 7754 80 40 120 0 1209192 IEC Lesotho, Election Passport By district DistrictDCABCLCDBNPOthersButha-Buthe District33.1441.859.092.2313.69Leribe District29.2839.1917.544.749.25Berea District28.4750.109.155.257.03Maseru District35.0149.724.754.556.97Mafeteng District41.4430.8014.783.509.48Mohale's Hoek District54.2827.067.213.767.69Quthing District51.3410.6511.9021.045.07Qacha's Nek District80.905.294.466.962.39Thaba-Tseka District44.0922.389.326.3718.01Mokhotlong District39.1932.0811.287.719.74 References 30em External links IEC Lesotho Lesotho Category:Elections in Lesotho General Lesotho