Lesotho goes to polls to elect new government

By Hassan Isilow and Felix Nkambeth Tih

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Voters in the kingdom of Lesotho are currently electing a new government, after the incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili lost a confidence vote in parliament.

This is the third time in five years that voters in the tiny kingdom landlocked in South Africa are electing a new government.

According to the Lesotho electoral commission, 1.2 million people have registered to vote. Polling stations opened at 6 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT) and will close at about 4 p.m. local time (15:00GMT).

“The polls opened on time. We are happy with the process and the environment is very peaceful,” Dr. Augustine Mahiga, Tanzania’s Foreign Minister, leading the Southern Africa Observer team to Lesotho told local television SABC Saturday.

Pakalitha Mosisili who came to power in 2015 after seven political parties formed a coalition to oust then Prime Minister Tom Thabane was accused of infighting within his coalition.

Many political parties are vying in the election but analysts say Saturday’s race has narrowed down between Mosisili’s Democratic Congress (DC) and Thomas Thabane’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) party.

Thabane, 77, has promised to increase old age pensions if elected into government saying elderly people would be treated with respect under his leadership.

Mosisili, 72, who served as premier from 1998 to 2012, and returned to power in 2015, enjoys most of his support from rural areas but since its winter season in the kingdom, there are fears many might not go out to vote.

South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies has expressed concern that the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), which has been meddling in Lesotho’s politics for decades, could interfere again if its preferred candidate does not win.

To win the Lesotho Premiership position, a political party needs to acquire more than half of the 120 seats in the National Assembly. According to experts it seems no party will have an outright majority leading to another coalition government.

Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy and it has a mixed parliamentary system.