Lesotho: Conflict over National Assembly seat allocation in 2007

Updated October 2007

Constitutional provisions

The Constitution of Lesotho provides for a mixed member parliamentary system (MMP) for the election of the members of the National Assembly (See Elklit, J 2002 for the formula used to allocate seats and its application).

80 members are elected from single member constituencies by a plurality.
40 seats are allocated so as to compensate parties for the discrepancy between percentage votes obtained and percentage constituency seats won.

Each voter is given two ballots. The first is to vote for the constituency candidate of choice, and the second for the party of choice. The allocation of compensatory seats is then undertaken on the basis of party ballot results.

Party electoral alliances

In this election the two larger parties, the ruling party and the main opposition, made arrangements with smaller parties whereby the larger parties contested only the constituencies and the smaller parties submitted only party lists for the compensatory seats; these lists then included members of the larger party. The understanding was that the smaller partner's supporters would vote for the larger partner's candidates on the constituency ballots; in exchange the larger partner's supporters would vote for the smaller partner on the party ballots. In such an arrangement (SADC 2007, 3):

The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) fielded constituency candidates while the small National Independent Party (NIP) included LCD members on the NIP party list. The outcome of all this was that the LCD won 61 constituency seats and the NIP was allocated 21 compensatory seats giving the alliance 82 seats in the National Assembly, or 68.3% of the seats.
The ABC, the main opposition party, made a similar arrangement with the tiny Lesotho Workers Party (LWP). The outcome in this case was that the ABC won 17 constituency seats and the LWP was allocated 10 compensatory seats giving the alliance 27 seats in the National Assembly, 22.5% of the seats.

These maneuvers explain why it is that the LCD and ABC obtained no party votes, as reflected in 2007 National Assembly election results, while the NIP and the LWP performed far better than they had in the 2002 election (cf National Assembly Election results 2002).

The Alliance of Congress Parties, a coalition of a more conventional kind, was formed between the Basutoland African Congress, the Lesotho People's Congress and Mahatammoho a Poelano (a faction of the Basotho Congress Party; EISA 2007, 6, SADC 2007, 3).

The legality of the seat allocation

The opposition parties disputed (amongst other things) the way that seats were allocated, The SADC Ministerial Troika Mission (2007, 3-4) summarized the matter thus:

"some stakeholders raised concerns about the PR system. They argued that the allocation of the proportional representation seats was not conducted in a fair manner and as a result small political parties were denied the opportunity to participate in Parliament." (SADC 2007, 3-4).

Opposition discontent manifested itself in a general strike in March 2007 which had as one of its demands, according to Nthakeng Selinyane (2007), "that the National Assembly seats be redistributed as though the All Basotho Convention (ABC)/Lesotho Workers' Party (LWP) alliance were one party, and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)/National Independent Party (NIP) were one party".

One of the smaller parties, Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP), which saw its share of the vote double between 2002 and 2007 (1.2%-2.7%) but its allocation of party seats remain the same (1) took the matter to court (SADC 2007, 3). The matter is still pending at time of writing.

The implications of these demands for the seat distribution in the National Assembly are profound. Were the redistribution to take place on this basis the LCD/NIP would lose 20 seats and have its majority in Parliament reduced from 38 to a wafer-thin 2 seats. All the other parties/alliances would gain seats. The ABC/LWP would gain two seats and become the second largest grouping in the National Assembly, so would attain the status of official opposition. The Basotho National Party would gain five seats, the Alliance of Congress Parties and the Popular Front For Democracy would each gain three, the Basutoland Congress Party and the Marematlou Freedom Party would each gain two seats, while the Basotho Democratic National Party, the Basotho Batho Democratic Party and the New Lesotho Freedom Party (at present unrepresented) would each gain one.

SADC mediation

The opposition general strike was suspended after the SADC Executive secretary promised that regional mediation would be initiated (Selinyane 2007). Accordingly the Dar-es-Salaam Ministerial Summit of March 2007 dispatched a Ministerial Troika from Tanzania, Angola and Namibia to investigate and report to the Organ on Politics Defence and Security Cooperation Chair, President Kikwete of Tanzania (SADC 2007, 1).

The Troika recommended that the government of Lesotho engage the opposition in a dialogue facilitated by the SADC to address the tension between the parties and review the MMP electoral model with the facilitation of experts (SADC 2007, 6-7).

Accordingly, President Kikwete decided to dispatch former President of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire, on the 13 June 2007 to facilitate the dialogue, a decision which was accepted by the main opposition ABC party's leader Thomas Thabane (Selinyane 2007). At the time of writing the process is still underway.

According to EISA/LCN (2007) "The Terms of Reference of the Eminent Person Mission are as follows:

Hold consultative meetings with all relevant stakeholders;
Develop a structured plan for the dialogue;
Initiate dialogue between the ruling party, opposition parties and other relevant stakeholders;
Facilitate the dialogue process; and
Compile a report of the dialogue process for submission to the Chairperson of the Organ for Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation and for presentation to the Government of Lesotho and other stakeholders.

References

EISA Election Update 2007 Lesotho 1, 31 January 2007.

ELKLIT, J 2002, "Lesotho 2002: Africa's first MMP elections" IN Journal of African Elections, 1(2), September 2002, 1-10.

EISA/LCN 2007 "Conference on 'Lesotho's 2007 General Election: Towards a Constructive Management of Post-Election Disputes': Summary of Proceedings and Recommendations", Maseru, Lesotho, 25-27 Sep 2007

SADC 2007 Assessment Report of the SADC Ministerial Troika Mission of the Organ on Politics Defence and Security Cooperation to the Kingdom of Lesotho from 11-14 April 2007.