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)).

Registration qualifications and conditions

To qualify for registration party membership must be open to all citizens, regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, national of social origin, birth or other status (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 36(1)(a)). A parties is disqualified from registration if it promotes sectional religious or ethnic interests, advocates the use of force or violence to attain political goals or fails to elect its leadership in periodic, democratic, elections (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 36(1)(b)).

The IEC is prohibited from registering a party if the party's name or insignia (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 36(2)):

  • Resembles that of another registered party so that it may confuse, mislead or deceive.
  • Propagates violence or hatred, or may cause serious offence.
  • Uses or resembles national insignia, the insignia of the royal family or the insignia of a public body.
  • That is obscene, offensive or likely to bring the electoral system into disrepute.

To facilitate this and avoid insignia confusion, parties may register their insignia with the Director of Elections and the Director must keep a register of these official symbols (National Assembly Election Order 1992, 41-45).

Parties and candidates are enjoined to promote the rights of women by facilitating women's equal political participation, ensuring their access to public meetings, respecting their rights to communicate with parties and respecting their rights to freedom of political action and conscience without being subject to coercion (National Assembly Election (No 1) (Amendment) Act 2001, 3(1)(a)-(d)). They are further urged to facilitate the political empowerment of the disabled and the youth (National Assembly Election (No 1) (Amendment) Act 2001, 3(1)(e),(f)). As Letuka et al (2004) point out, that these provisions, at least as regards women, are disregarded by the parties and not enforced by the IEC.

Registration cancellation and appeals

The registration of a party may be cancelled if, after proper enquiry, the IEC is satisfied that the party has ceased to exist or if the party notifies the IEC that it has dissolved or if the party is in breach of the terms of its registration (see "Registration qualifications and conditions" above; National Assembly Election Order 1992, 37).

A party that is aggrieved by a decision of the IEC to reject its application for registration, or to cancel its registration, may appeal to the High Court within three days of notification of the decision and the High Court must hand down its ruling on the matter within three days of the appeal being lodged (National Assembly Elections (Amendment) Act 2001, 18).

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.