The Transition and Formation of Government after Lesotho’s 2022 Elections
The process of transitioning from one government to another and forming a new government after elections in Lesotho is often fraught with controversy and uncertainty. These problems can be attributed, by and large, to the lack of adequate rules and consistent constitutional practice. The 2022 elections have once again shone the spotlight on these longstanding problems. Like all other elections since 2012, the 2022 elections were inconclusive: no political party received an outright majority to form a government. Since the country uses a parliamentary system, the government depends on the confidence of the National Assembly and the life of the government is pegged to the life of Parliament. The end of the parliamentary term effectively means the end of the government. In terms of the Constitution, once Parliament is dissolved, elections must be held within three months. Within one month after the elections, a new Parliament must sit. While the Constitution provides for the appointment of the prime minister – the king appoints as prime minister a member of the National Assembly who will have the confidence of the House – there are no rules stipulating how the confidence of the House is to be determined. Likewise, the government’s position between the dissolution of Parliament and the forming of a new government is often opaque and precarious. This article examines these inadequacies in the context of the 2022 elections. The article uses content analysis – the examination of primary and secondary documents – to analyse the activities that took place during the transition and formation of a new government in the 2022 elections. The article concludes that the 2022 elections serve to confirm a longstanding problem of inadequate rules and consistent practice relating to the transition and formation of government.
Screening Political Party Candidates and the Implications for Electoral Performance: The Case of the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) in Lesotho’s 2022 General Elections
The formation of the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party in March 2022
has radically altered Lesotho’s political landscape. Apart from the new calibre
of political leadership, the party has, in line with its name, revolutionised
some of the traditions long held by Lesotho’s political parties. Contrary to
the closed primary elections that most parties use, the RFP introduced a
combination of centralised and technocratic approaches in determining the
list of party candidates for the October 2022 elections. With the former, the
party reserved candidateship in eleven constituencies for persons appointed
by the leader. Four front runners in the primary elections in the remaining
constituencies would be subjected to various screening methods with the
final determination to be made by the party leadership. The detractors have
mocked the RFP’s approach as undemocratic and undermining the will of
the people. The party also experienced internal resistance that led to it being
taken to the law courts where some decisions were reversed. Using various
data collection methods, this paper discusses the strategies used by the RFP
and shows that much as they are not common in Lesotho, these strategies
are not entirely new in politics as they are used in other democratic systems.
An examination of the October 2022 elections results shows that despite
the court challenges, the RFP’s candidate selection strategies had a positive
impact on the party’s performance as well as on the profile of the resultant
National Assembly.
The Impact of Intra-Party Conflicts on the Electoral Performance of the All Basotho Convention in Lesotho’s 2022 Elections
The literature on Lesotho’s politics and political parties, particularly after 2012, focuses on their alliances and coalitions, their relationships with the military and the seemingly instability of coalitions. There is less focus on intra-party instability and its impact on political party electoral performance. This article uses a critical literature review to analyse the poor electoral […]
Ethics in Electoral Democracies: A Critical Reflection on Lesotho’s 2022 Elections
This study is a critical reflection on how the positive impact of ethics in Lesotho’s political elections and democracy could be amplified for lasting peace and political stability. It is based on secondary data from available literature against the background of Lesotho’s existing, mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system. The MMP system has given birth to the political phenomenon of inconclusive electoral results and unstable coalition governments in recent years. This political phenomenon emanates from intra- and inter-party conflicts, which often led to undesirable and premature dissolutions of parliament and snap elections. Here, ethics should be understood as an essential component of a healthy process in electoral democracy and a practice necessary for rresting the enduring political instability in Lesotho.
Women’s Representation in Lesotho’s Legislative Bodies: A Politico-Legal Analysis of the Effectiveness of Electoral Gender Quotas
Women are under-represented in legislative bodies in the majority of
countries, and Lesotho is no exception to this worldwide trend. In an
attempt to address this problem, the country has adopted, through electoral
laws, electoral gender quota systems for both local and national legislative
structures. The country has introduced a 30% gender quota requirement
for election to the local councils at the local level. At the national level, it
introduced a ‘zebra list’ – the condition that when political parties submit
lists for the purposes of 40 proportional representation (PR) seats in the
National Assembly, the names must alternate between those of men and
women. The idea was to attain 50% representation of women in the National
Assembly, at least for the 40 PR seats. The effectiveness of these two quota
systems in enhancing women’s representation has been the subject of
intense disagreement. The animating question is whether, since the adoption
of gender quotas, the representation of women in legislative bodies has
improved. The article investigates this question using the qualitative content
analysis method. The central hypothesis is that electoral gender quotas in
Lesotho, particularly at the national level, have not significantly improved
the representation of women. The paper critiques the models used and makes
some recommendations for reform.
A Critique of Proceduralism in the Adjudication of Electoral Disputes in Lesotho
One of the characteristic features of electoral democracy in Lesotho is disputed elections. Since 1993, when the country returned to constitutional democracy after a long haul of dictatorship and monarcho-military rule, every election has been subjected to one form of discontent or another. The aggrieved parties use various ways to vent their dissatisfactions, and more […]
Free Elections and Political Instability in Lesotho
Since 1993, Lesotho has had six free elections. Five have been followed by episodes of coercive regional diplomacy or military intervention to maintain order or sustain the elected government. Two of these interventions have occurred as Lesotho’s electoral system was being transformed from a first-past-the-post dominant party system to a mixed member proportional pattern, and […]