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Lesotho Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Lesotho
Official Name: Kingdom of Lesotho
Capital: Maseru
Area: 30,350 square kilometres (11,718 square miles)
Major cities (Population)
Maseru 170,000 (1990)
Population: 2,050,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 2.7 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Constitutional monarchy
Independence: 4 October 1966 (from the United Kingdom)
Constitution: 2 April 1993
Voting Rights: Universal at age 21
Government
The king is Lesotho’s head of state but has only ceremonial duties. The prime minister is the executive head of government and is assisted by a cabinet. There is a bicameral legislature. The 65 members of the Assembly, the lower house, are chosen by popular election. The 33-member Senate includes the 22 principal chiefs and 11 chiefs who are nominated by the ruling party. The voting age is 21.
Recent History
Internal self-rule was introduced in 1956, when a new constitution allowed for the first elected legislature. In October 1966 Basutoland became an independent member of the Commonwealth as the Kingdom of Lesotho, with Moshoeshoe II as king and head of state and Chief Leabua Jonathan as prime minister.
In 1970, when Jonathan’s ruling party, the Basotho National Party (BNP), was in danger of losing power, Jonathan suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. He survived a coup attempt in 1974 but became increasingly unpopular. Elections were held again in 1985; however, they were designed to favour the BNP and were boycotted by other parties. Jonathan was ousted by a military coup in January 1986. A six-person military council took control of government. In theory, all powers were vested in the king of Lesotho, but, in practice, he had very little influence on the government. In 1990 King Moshoeshoe II, who was critical of the military, was forced into exile and replaced by his son, King Letsie III, who was given no executive authority. The military junta promised to restore civilian rule by 1992, but made little progress towards that goal. Its leader, Major-General Justin Lekhanya, was forced to resign in 1991 and was replaced by another member of the ruling council, Colonel Elias Ramaema. Democratic elections were finally held in 1993. The BNP was heavily defeated by the Basotho Congress Party (BCP), whose leader, Ntsu Mokhehle, became prime minister. The military were unhappy with the election result, and soldiers rioted in January 1994; in April, after abducting several ministers, they assassinated the deputy prime minister. In August King Letsie III suspended the constitution and dismissed the government in a “royal coup”. In September, with the help of South Africa, an agreement was reached whereby Mokhehle’s government was returned to power, and King Letsie abdicated in favour of his father, Moshoeshoe II, who had returned to Lesotho in 1993.
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