Lesotho: Party registration

Updated May 2006

Parties in Lesotho are required to register with two different authorities. A political party is defined as a party which is registered under the Societies Act and has as one of its goals to participate in the election of members of the National Assembly, and is also registered with the IEC under the National Assembly Election Order 1992, 35 (National Assembly Elections (Amendment) Act 2001, 3(b)).

Dual registration

In terms of the 1966 Societies Act (article 14), parties are required to submit applications to the Registrar General at the Law Office. This is a purely administrative formality which requires only the payment of registration fees, proof of more than 10 members and the furnishing of a party's particulars such as its name, address, constitution, rules and code of conduct and a list of office bearers (Matlosa & Sello 2005, 24).

Parties are also required to pay an annual renewal of registration fee and may be deregistered should they fail to do so; deregistration may also take place on request from the party concerned (Matlosa & Sello 2005, 24). Matlosa & Sello observe that, "To date, no political party has ever been subjected to deregistration by the registrar-general", although parties frequently fail to pay the annual renewal fees.

Parties wishing to take part in elections are expected to register with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in terms of electoral legislation. Registration with the IEC is contingent on registration with the Registrar General (National Assembly Elections (Amendment Act 2001, 3(35), but the absence of registration with the IEC does not compromise registration with the Registrar General (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 40).

Electoral registration

Party registration with the IEC is required so that parties may be able to endorse candidates for election (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 35(1)). This is not to be understood as prohibiting independent candidates from standing for election, for there is no provision in the constitution or the electoral laws that require that a candidate must have the endorsement of a party. Applications must be made to the IEC by a senior office bearer (president, chair or secretary) of the party and must include its constitution, party name and insignia, along with (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 35):

  • The prescribed application fee.
  • A declaration signed by 500 members on the voters' roll supporting the application, with their full names, postal and residential addresses and the constituencies to which they belong.
  • Details of the assets, liabilities and bank accounts of the party.
  • Details of a single bank account into which all income shall be paid and from which all electoral expenses shall be paid from.

The registration of new parties is suspended seven days after the beginning of the election period until the end of the election period; undecided applications made before the suspension period must be resolved before the suspension period begins (National Assembly Elections (Amendment) Act 2001, 17). The election period is defined as: "the period beginning with the date of the publication in the Gazette of the relevant election notice and ending with the date of the publication in the Gazette of the relevant election result notice" (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 2(1)).

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References

LETUKA, P, MAPETLA, M & MATASHANE-MARITE, K 2004 "Gender and Elections in Lesotho: Perspectives on the 2002 elections", EISA Research Report No 4, 61, [PDF document].

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTION ORDER 1992, Military Council and Council of Ministers of Lesotho.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS (AMENDMENT) ACT 2001, [www] http://aceproject.org/ regions-en/eisa/LS/National%20Assembly%20Amendment%20Act%20%281997%29.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 8 Mar 2010).

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTION (No 1) (AMENDMENT) ACT 2001, Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary, 46(105), 31 December.