Like the UK, Lesotho will hold a snap general election early June. However, unlike the UK, it has been many years since Lesotho last had an election that has produce an outright winner. Stagnation, both political and economic, has been the hallmark the kingdom mountain of 2 million people. Lesotho is a Southern African country surrounded by South Africa. In Lesotho little has changed for decades, even as power has rotated between the established parties and military junta since independence in 1966.

This year’s snap general election, the most exciting in living memory, promises an upheaval. The coalition that held power since 2015 has disintegrated. It all begun in March when parliament passed a vote of no confidence on Prime Minister (PM) Pakalitha Mosisili government. The PM had two choices either to resign or request a snap general election. He opted for the latter, King Letsie lll then set 03 June as the date for the snap general election. 120 parliamentary seats are up for grab. 61 will constitute a majority. Lesotho is set to hold snap general election on 03 June nearly three months after Mosisili of the Democratic Congress (DC) lost a confidence vote in parliament. Mosisili headed a coalition government since a snap election in 2015 that was called in an effort to end the country’s prolonged power struggles.

A snap election in 2015 failed to garner an outright winner. The DC, Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and five smaller parties formed a coalition government headed by DC’s Mosisili. Interestingly, the 2015 snap election was also a result of a failed coalition put in place in 2012 general election.

The DC, which held 46 of the 120 seats, could reduce its presence in parliament if what analysts are saying is anything to go by. Lesotho voters may face a choice between All Basotho Congress (ABC) and a coalition between the Lesotho Congress of Democrats and its splinter DC party. Like the British electoral system, the party that gets a majority of 61 seats ultimately gets forms next government.

The implications of the Lesotho snap general election are hard to exaggerate. They are the clearest example of the need for the regional body SADC to act to fix the political impasse. The resulting realignment will have reverberations far beyond Lesotho’s borders. It could revitalize Southern Africa Development Committee (SADC), or wreck it.

Reports say that one in every five the Basotho (Lesotho citizens) are unemployed. Of those who have jobs, few can find permanent ones of the sort their parents enjoyed. In the face of high taxes and heavy regulation those with entrepreneurial vim have long headed South Africa or abroad often to London. But the malaise goes well beyond stagnant living standards. Repeated coup’s and coalitions have jangled nerves, forced citizens to live under a auto state of emergency and exposed deep ethnic rifts in the country.

Many of these problems have built up over decades, but neither the political parties nor junta has been able to get grips with them. Lesotho’s has never had a serious attempt at ambitious economic reform since independence. Both ABC and other parties that were not part of the outgoing government tap into that frustration. But they offer radically different diagnoses of what ails Lesotho and radically different remedies.

Mosisili blames outside forces for his countries demise. In a letter to SADC Chairperson he complained of “glawing” decisions by SADC has unacceptable interference in Lesotho’s internal affairs. Botswana President Ian Khama hit back threatening to withdraw his country’s representatives from the SADC Oversight Committee on Lesotho in light of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s complaint the bloc’s decisions were “gnawing” at the Mountain Kingdom’s sovereignty. The maverick Botswana leader also stressed that SADC member states’ “unwavering” support to Lesotho’s efforts to bring about lasting political stability had “come with huge financial and other costs”.

Democratic Congress (DC) and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) conceived and ultimately agreed on an alliance going to the 03 June election. The two parties agreed that the DC would field candidates in 54 constituencies, while the LCD would field candidates in 25 constituencies. The Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) would then be supported by both the DC and LCD in one constituency. Misisili in drumming up support for the snap general election promises to protect voters with a combination of less barriers and greater social welfare.

Professor Mafa Sejanamane writing in the article, “Has the DC committed political suicide?“, believes the DC has committed a political suicide with this kind of alliance because Lesotho uses a one-vote-two ballot system that is voters can elect a candidate of their choice while on the other side of the ballot paper they can elect a party of their choice. This system is not used in most countries where they use the single ballot one-man one-vote system were the voter will elect a candidate and political party using one ballot. The DC is haunted by a split which saw a number of its members forming the Alliance of Democrats (AD). The LCD is also rearing from a split which saw the formation of the Movement for Change (MEC). The growth of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) which in 2015 election got 40 seats while had 37; LCD two is probably behind this latest alliance.

Why the world should not ignore Lesotho general elections

To appreciate why Lesotho snap general election should be taken seriously by SADC, African Union (AU), United Nation (UN) and the international community, following but not limited to is a brief timeline of events that shows examples of political instability of the mountain kingdom since independence in 1966:

• 1966 – Lesotho gains independence. King Moshoeshoe ll becomes the head of the monarch and Chief Leabua Jonathan of the Basotho National Party (BNP) as Prime Minister.
• 1970 – Chief Leabua Jonathan suspends the constitution after BNP (23 seats) loses the January election to the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP, 36 seats); King Moshoeshoe ll is sent into temporary exile and BCP leaders are imprisoned. Leabua rules until 1986.
• 1986 – Major-General Justin Lekhanya takes power after deposing BNP’S Chief Jonathan in a coup.
• 1990 – King Moshoeshoe is sent into permanent exile after various assassination attempts. His son Letsie lll becomes king.
• 1991 – Lekhanya is forced from power by Colonel Elias Tutsoane Ramaema, who lifts a ban on political activity.
• 1992 – Moshoeshoe ll returns from exile as an ordinary citizen
• 1993 – Ramaema hands over power to an elected BCP government. Letsie lll tries unsuccessfully to have his father, Moshoeshoe ll, reinstated as the head of the constitutional monarchy.
• 1994 – Letsie lll stges a military coup, ousting the BCP government.
• 1995 – After SADC intervenes, the BCP is reinstated, and Letsie lll abdicates. Moshoeshoe ll is restored to the throne.
• 1996 – Moshoeshoe ll, aged 57, dies in a car accident; Letstie lll is sworn in as king.
• 1997 – Lesotho soiders put down police munity in Maseru in February. PM Ntsu Mokhehle forms the Lesotho Congess of Democrats (LCD) after he is dismissed by the BCP. Many BCP MPs follow him into the new party.
• 1998 – The new leader of the LCD, Pakalitha Mosisili, becomes prime minister after LCD wins general election in May, but protests by opposition followers and a rebellion by an army faction on September 21 result in an intervention by the SADC. South African and Botswana troops are sent in to restore order; scores die in clashes, and the capital Maseru lies in ruins as looters ransack stores and fires break out all over the city.The Multiparty Interim Political Authority is established in December and charged with overseeing future elections.
• 1999 – SA and Bostwana peacekeepers are withdrawn in April/May after a seven-month mission.
• 2002 – LCD wins parliamentary elections in June and Mosisili is sworn in for a secondterm as prime minister.
• 2005 – Voters go the polls for their first local elections since independence, to choose representatives for 129 councils. Opposition parties boycotted the election, arguing that they were not given time to prepare, boycott the process.
• 2007 – The LCD wins the general election on February 17, taking 61 of 80 constituencies, but opposition parties challenge the results. In March opposition parties successfully call for a general strike in protest over allocation of parliamentary seats.
• 2009 – Prime Minister Mosisili survives a military-style assassination attempt on April 22.
• 2010 – The People’s Charter Movement, which wants to see Lesotho become a part of South Africa, delivers a petition to the South African High Commission in My, requesting integration.
• 2011 – Government and opposition reach an agreement in April over allocation of parliamentary seats at the 2012 elections, aimed at easing a dispute over the 2007 vote.
• 2012 – Pakalitha Mosisili resigns on February 28 from the faction-driven ruling party to form the Democratic Congress (DC). Mosisili’s DC wins 48 of 120 seats in the general election held on My 26. Opposition parties unite to form a coalition government on My 30. King Letsie ll appoints the All Basotho Convention’s Thomas Thabane as prime minister on June 7, and he is sworn in the next day.
• 2014 – Thabane suspends parliament. A military coup attempt sees Thabane fleeing to South Africa before the South African National Defense Force restores order in the country.
• 2015 – Snap elections are held and there is no outright winner. DC forms a coalition with several other parties and Mosisili comes back to become prime minister.
• 2017 – In March parliament prime minister gets a no confidence vote from parliament. PM is faced with resigning or calling a snap general election, he chooses the latter .A few days King Lestie lll set 03 June as the day for a snap general election.

SADC and other efforts to bring political stability in Lesotho

There is no doubt that Lesotho’s perennial political crisis is a cost to SADC. The maverick Botswana leader Ian Khama stressed this while replying to a letter written by outgoing Lesotho PM Mosisili who had argued that SADC is interfering with Lesotho’s sovereignty by making decisions for it. Khama is quoted as stressing that “SADC member states’ “unwavering” support to Lesotho’s efforts to bring about lasting political stability had “come with huge financial and other costs”. Besides military support, following are some of the initiatives by SADC to resolve Lesotho’s crisis. In March 2017- extra-ordinary summit for heads of state and government held on 18 in Swaziland to come up with a lasting political solution for Lesotho.

Early May 2017- Facilitator to Lesotho political crisis South Africa Deputy President Cyrial Ramaphosa visited the country early in May and pronounced that kingdom mountain is ready for the snap general election. A national dialogue with the hope to encourage tolerance was cancelled in early May after Ramaphosa conceded to Misisili’s argument that there wasn’t enough time for the project (Ntsukunyane 2017).

The Lesotho political crisis has always herald the annual SADC Head of States and Governments Summits where committee such has one lead by South Africa’s Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. However, the regional group seems a long way in finding a lasting solution to peace and security in the mountain kingdom.

According to Ngatan, Bishop Mallane Taaso of the Anglican Church wants PM Mosisili to sign a pledge that he will respect the outcome of the elections. At least 14 out of 30 registered political parties had already signed the pledge. The pledge was brooked by churches in Lesotho and supported by the United Nations. The pledge is aimed at ensuring post-election stability in the land locked country.

References

• Ngatane, N. 2017. Christian Council of Lesotho wants PM to sign election pledge. SABC, 18 May.
• Ntsukunyane, L. 2017. Khama threatens to withdraw support. Lesotho Times, 20 May. Available: .
• Sejanamane, M. 2017. Has the DC committed polical suicide? Lesotho Times 13 May. Available: .
• The Lesotho crisis timeline from 1966- 2017 was obtained from: South African History online: towards a people’s history.