National Assembly (Lesotho)

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Parliament building in Maseru

The National Assembly ( National Assembly ) is the lower house in the bicameral system of Lesotho .

In the National Assembly of Lesotho 120 members are elected for five years each. 80 seats are allocated in direct elections in 80 constituencies , 40 seats according to proportional representation through lists. In doing so, those parties are considered that received a disproportionately low number of seats when the 80 direct mandates were awarded - based on the total of 120. The lists are made up of alternating men and women according to the “zebra system”.

The National Assembly is located in the capital Maseru . Sephiri Motanyane from the All Basotho Convention (ABC) has been President of Parliament ( Speaker ) since 2017 .

history

The Basutoland National Council (BNC), the representation of the Basotho , was replaced shortly before the independence of Lesotho in 1966 by a bicameral system of Senate and National Assembly. The National Assembly is the only legislative parliament. The party or coalition with the majority of the parliamentary seats determines the prime minister . The prime minister can only be replaced by a constructive vote of no confidence . In such a case, however, the prime minister can call new elections, as happened in 2017.

In the 1965 elections , there were 60 constituencies that were assigned by majority voting. In 1970 there were still 60 constituencies, but the election was annulled and the constitution suspended by Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan . In 1974 the Interim National Assembly (about: " Interim National Assembly ") was founded, which was endowed with little powers. Elections were not scheduled until 1985, but they were boycotted by the opposition parties, so that the Basotho National Party received all 60 seats. In 1986 the parliament was dissolved when the military came to power under Justin Lekhanya . In 1990 the military government set up the National Constituent Assembly (" National Constitutional Assembly "), a sham parliament.

With the return to democracy in 1993 , the National Assembly was re-established with 65 directly elected members. The Basutoland Congress Party won all seats , so there was no parliamentary opposition. For the 1998 election the number of MPs was increased to 80, but there was only one opposition MP, which led to unrest. Therefore, from the 2002 election, a new system came into effect, which provided for 80 mandates to be awarded through majority voting and 40 through proportional representation. As a result, the number of parties represented in the National Assembly increased sharply. Vassal parties were founded or taken over in order to obtain other list mandates in addition to direct mandates ( Lesotho Workers' Party , National Independent Party ). This option was abolished again for the 2012 elections , as each voter only had one vote.

At the beginning of the political crisis in Lesotho in 2014 the then Prime Minister was Thomas Thabane the National Assembly close to a no-confidence vote to avoid. As a result, there was an attempted coup and numerous other entanglements that could only be resolved after intervention by the southern African development community .

Floor crossing took place at the end of February 2017 . Numerous directly elected members of the Democratic Congress left the government benches and took the side of the opposition. Other parliamentarians who were willing to change and were elected according to proportional representation did not change because their mandate was tied to the party, but declared that they belonged to the opposition. On March 1, 2017, Pakalitha Mosisili's government lost a vote of no confidence.

In 2019, Thabane once again had parliament closed because another vote of no confidence was imminent, also in March 2020. On April 17, 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that the closure was illegal.

Boardroom

The seats are arranged in a U-shape. To the right of the speaker sit the representatives of the governing parties , in front the Prime Minister and the Ministers. On the left are the representatives of the opposition parties, with the opposition leader in front of the speaker .

Elections 2017

The last elections took place on June 3, 2017. As in 2012 and 2015, all major parties received proportional representation mandates. Three seats were awarded for candidate deaths in a by-election .

Distribution of seats in the Parliament of Lesotho after the elections on June 3, 2017, including by-election on September 30, 2017
Political party Seats
All Basotho Convention (ABC) 51
Democratic Congress (DC) 30th
Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) 11
Alliance of Democrats (AD) 9
Movement for Economic Change (MEC) 6th
Basotho National Party (BNP) 5
Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) 3
Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL) 1
National Independent Party (NIP) 1
Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) 1
Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) 1
Democratic Party of Lesotho (DPL) 1
total 120

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 100.
  2. ^ Swearing in of new MPs was smooth. ( Memento from June 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) lesotho.gov.ls (English)
  3. ^ A b c d Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 231.
  4. ↑ Kodwa, Radebe and Mashego-Dlamini to visit Lesotho after army deployment. ewn.co.za on April 18, 2020, accessed April 19, 2020
  5. ↑ Description at parliament.ls (English), accessed on October 10, 2017