Ruling party takes lead in Lesotho vote count

MASERU – The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy began pulling ahead of its rivals yesterday as counting continued after weekend general elections in southern Africa’s mountain kingdom, organisers said.

Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s party had won 18 of the first 31 constituencies to declare while former foreign minister Tom Thabane’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) was trailing in second place with 12 seats, independent electoral commission spokesman Rethabile Pholo told AFP. An alliance of minor parties had secured one seat after Saturday’s elections, Pholo added.A total of 80 MPs will be directly elected in constituencies while another 40 will be elected via proportional representation.Observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) gave the vote a generally clean bill of health on Sunday but the spectre of another contested election loomed as Thabane outlined a list of grievances.The former foreign minister, who quit the cabinet and formed the ABC late last year, claimed some of his supporters had found their names absent from the electoral register and alleged there had been some multiple voting.When his camp tried to file complaints with the independent electoral commission, their representatives were nowhere to be found, he said.Disputed elections in 1998, when Mosisili was first elevated to power, resulted in mass protests which were only quelled when the South African and Botswanan armies intervened in the small mountain kingdom.Nampa-AFPAn alliance of minor parties had secured one seat after Saturday’s elections, Pholo added.A total of 80 MPs will be directly elected in constituencies while another 40 will be elected via proportional representation.Observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) gave the vote a generally clean bill of health on Sunday but the spectre of another contested election loomed as Thabane outlined a list of grievances.The former foreign minister, who quit the cabinet and formed the ABC late last year, claimed some of his supporters had found their names absent from the electoral register and alleged there had been some multiple voting.When his camp tried to file complaints with the independent electoral commission, their representatives were nowhere to be found, he said.Disputed elections in 1998, when Mosisili was first elevated to power, resulted in mass protests which were only quelled when the South African and Botswanan armies intervened in the small mountain kingdom.Nampa-AFP