SADC committed to peace in post-election Lesotho

Friday, March 6, 2015

Pretoria - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is committed to the peace process in Lesotho after the recent parliamentary elections, says Deputy President and SADC Facilitator Cyril Ramaphosa.

Speaking to the media in Maseru, Deputy President Ramaphosa said SADC will continue to provide support beyond the elections to create peace and stability through the Facilitation Mission.

This, he said, will include supporting Lesotho as it embarks upon the immediate task of constitutional reforms. The work of SADC will also extend to the critical area of security sector reforms.

"We will remain engaged and involved. SADC will seek to assist Lesotho in the next process," said Deputy President Ramaphosa who has mediated the political crisis in Lesotho.

He called on political parties in the kingdom to have a dialogue as to what needs to be reformed.

The Deputy President praised all the parties for having "participated in a respectful manner" in the elections which, he said, was a true reflection of the will of people of Lesotho.

“The people have spoken and categorically voted for peace and stability. It is now incumbent upon the leadership of political parties to ensure the realisation of the aspirations the people of Lesotho,” he said.

The opposition parties emerged as the winner in the elections. On Wednesday, the Democratic Congress (DC), led by former Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), led by Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, announced that they would form a coalition government with five other opposition parties.

Outgoing Prime Minister Thomas Thabane's All Basotho Convention (ABC) lost the elections after the allocation of seats. The ABC, however, equalled opposition on the number of constituencies.

Results showed that Mosisili's DC won 47 seats, followed by Thabane's ABC with 46, while Metsing's LCD won 12 seats.

As there is no clear poll winner, the DC and the LCD have signed an agreement to form a coalition with five other parties.

The coalition should have at least 61 seats in the 120-member Parliament.

In the coalition government, Mosisili will be the prime minister while Metsing will be his deputy.

The elections were held on Saturday, two years ahead of schedule under a political deal brokered by the SADC in a bid to end a political impasse that started in June last year, when Thabane suspended Parliament to avoid a vote of no confidence that was being pushed by his coalition government partners. – SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua