A recently founded party Revolution For Prosperity (RFP) led by a millionaire diamond magnate is looking set to win Lesotho’s parliamentary election, having secured enough for a simple majority on Sunday.
Revolution For Prosperity set for an easy win as numbers rise in Lesotho’s elections
This is according to preliminary results from the country’s election commission.
By Sunday afternoon, results from Friday’s vote were in for 49 out of a total of 80 constituencies.
The RFP formed by Sam Matekane in March had secured 41 seats, the minimum required to reach a simple majority.
It looks like the counting will be around the 50% mark later as 17 constituencies were added this morning, in total, 80 constituencies.
It seems the new Party is leading, and it looks like it’s heading for a landslide victory.
#Matekane: I have houses in many countries across the globe, I could have chosen to abandon and make life elsewhere, but believe God may use me to rescue this country” @SABCNews @Sophie_Mokoena pic.twitter.com/liWuLmcqxN
— Rapelang Radebe (@ntateRaps) March 22, 2022
Lesotho’s election results still trickling in:
Political analyst, Dr Tlohang Letsie says the results which have come in so far, although surprising, bring hope for a new order in Lesotho politics.
Letsie says up to this point the Lesotho parliamentary elections have gone fairly well. The election comes after politicians in the country failed to pass a bill calling for constitutional reforms earlier this year, which were meant to help end years of political instability.
Lesotho’s politics have been marred by coup plots, in-fighting within parties, and floor-crossing which has often led to unstable coalition governments.
“I have to say we’re having a shock result. Almost everybody had predicted a coalition government, but now as things are, the newly-established Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) seems to be sweeping almost everything. I think that brings an element of hope because most of the people that are coming into parliament with RFP are new members altogether. We’re hopeful that they would want to try to correct the wrongs of the past parliament,” says Dr Letsie.
There are no signs of instability during the current Lesotho elections: Dr Tlohang Letsie
