03 June, 2017
People in mountainous Lesotho, some wrapped in blankets to ward off the cold, voted in national elections on Saturday amid concerns about chronic political instability in the southern African country. "We are happy with the process and the environment is very peaceful", Dr. Augustine Mahiga, Tanzania's Foreign Minister, leading the Southern Africa Observer team to Lesotho told local television SABC Saturday.
Early elections were called after a successful vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili in March, which led to the dissolution of parliament.
Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, who took power after 2015 elections, lost the parliamentary vote in March.
The landlocked country, surrounded by South Africa, has had King Letsie III as head of state since 1996, but political leadership has been volatile in recent years with the last two elections failing to produce a victor with a clear majority.
In the capital Maseru, Thabane's All Basotho Congress (ABC) and Mosisili's Democratic Congress (DC) party have competed for votes via giant billboards and posters.
While sporadic violence is possible during this weekend's vote and the subsequent counting period with the all-but-guaranteed allegations of rigging by losing parties, we do not expect any major confrontation and anticipate that the elections will go off largely peacefully if less than perfectly.
"Our country is poor and a lot of money has been spent holding these elections".
"We just voted two years ago and that government did not do much for the people".
Thabane, the leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC), was targeted by a coup attempt in 2014, prompting him to flee to South Africa, where he lived in exile for two years.
"It was the most undignified thing that happened to me, to wear (just) my trousers. and go through the fence with my wife, running away from the state house", Thabane told on the campaign trail.
"There is speculation that perhaps the army may connive with some politicians when the election outcome has been announced; that they should refuse the outcome of the election".
In the likely scenario that no party wins a majority in Saturday's election, parties have three days to form a coalition government.
Reflecting frustration at the country's politics, voter turnout declined sharply to just 46 percent in 2015 from 66 percent in 2002.
This post was syndicated from Nigeria News, Headlines and Opinions - The Guardian Nigeria Newspaper.
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