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Lesotho: Thomas Thabane and his party on track to winning election – will likely set up coalition gov’t
Lesotho appeares to be heading for a coalition government following a snap parliamentary election aimed at bringing stability to the tiny southern African kingdom.
The incumbent prime minister, Thomas Thabane and his party are in the lead with 95 percent of constituencies reporting after Saturday’s voting, the electoral commission said.
However, results from isolated rural areas narrowed his early lead, making it likely the country would have another coalition government.
The African Union described the election as peaceful. The Thabane’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) party held 40 seats with counting nearly complete Monday, followed by its closest rival, the Democratic Congress (DC) of former prime minister Pakalitha Mosisili, with 33.
The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) of Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, whose differences with Thabane fractured the outgoing coalition, had 2 seats.
Lesotho has a mixed parliamentary system. Eighty lawmakers are voted into power by constituents, while another 40 seats are distributed proportionally after the final tally to ensure all parties are represented. A party needs 61 of the 120 seats available to rule without being forced into a coalition.
The elections will bring to an end a political crisis that ensued in June last year, after the prime minister suspended parliament to avoid a vote of no confidence that would likely have seen him ousted from power.
In the last fragile coalition government, Thabane’s party did not hold the majority of seats in parliament, but outmaneuvered the winning DC by teaming up with several smaller parties, including the LCD which has since rescinded its allegiance.
