Lesotho elections: Party of Prime Minister Mosisili wins the vote

The Lesotho Congress for Democracy under Mosisili won elections in 1998, 2002 and 2007.

In the first decades after independence from Britain in 1966, Lesotho’s military and its king repeatedly meddled in politics, weakening democracy. The king is now considered merely a figurehead.

After an army mutiny in 1998, South Africa, which surrounds mountainous Lesotho, led a military intervention. That was followed by political negotiations that led to electoral reforms meant to give a greater voice to the opposition to the entrenched Lesotho Congress for Democracy.

As part of the reforms, 40 seats allotted by proportional representation were added to parliament’s 80 elected seats.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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