Lesotho: Party system and campaigning

Extracted from: Belinda Musanhu 2009 "Chapter 5: Lesotho" IN Denis Kadima and Susan Booysen (eds) Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa 1989-2009: 20 Years of Multiparty Democracy, EISA, Johannesburg, 159-161.

Political parties have always been very active in Lesotho, particularly since independence. The parties cover a range of ideologies, including the royalist Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP), which has been in operation since independence, as has been the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) which through various splits has led to the birth of many parties in Lesotho. These include the current ruling party, the Lesotho Congress of Democracy (LCD), the Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) and the All Basotho Convention (ABC), which was formed in late 2007 following a split from the LCD. For the 2007 elections there were 19 registered political parties. 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)).

Political parties in Lesotho depend largely on membership contributions, donations and the personal wealth of the leaders and candidates to fund their administration and campaigns [see Party funding for details]. This has proved to be inadequate, but there is no provision for funding of political parties in the period between elections. The IEC has since 1993 provided election-related funding to all the parties participating in the election. This funding is supposed to be used for campaigning and is usually used by parties for the nomination of candidates.

All political parties wishing to contest in an election register with the IEC [see Party registration for details].

There is no provision in the constitution or the electoral laws that requires that a candidate must have the endorsement of a party to contest the election so each election features a fair number of independent candidates.

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. They are further urged to facilitate the political empowerment of the disabled and the youth. However, these provisions, at least with regard to women, seem to be disregarded by the parties and not enforced by the IEC.