Parliamentary elections in Basutoland in 1965

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The parliamentary elections in Basutoland 1965 took place on April 29, 1965 in the British crown colony of Basutoland . The members of the National Assembly should be elected for the first time . It was the last election before the country gained independence as Lesotho in 1966.

Starting position

In 1960 the first democratic election took place in Basutoland. It was then that the Basutoland National Council (BNC) was elected. The Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) under Ntsu Mokhehle had won the most votes and seats by a large margin. But since half of the representation consisted of appointed barena , the BCP did not have a majority there. According to the constitution passed before the election, the National Assembly and the Senate, as a bicameral parliament, should replace the BNC. In addition to the BCP, the Basutoland National Party (BNP) under Leabua Jonathan , the monarchist Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP), the Marema Tlou Party and some independents ran for election.

procedure

The 60 deputies were elected by majority vote .

Result

259,825 votes were cast. The turnout was 62.8%. The BNP won an absolute majority of the seats with 41.6% of the vote and 31 seats. It was chosen especially in rural areas. The BCP received 39.7% of the vote and 25 seats, while the MFP received 16.5% and four seats. 2.2% went to the Marema Tlou Party (no seat), 0.0% to independents.

Leabua Jonathan failed to win his constituency.

consequences

The BCP sued in several cases because of irregularities and was right in two cases, so that by-elections were scheduled, but these did not lead to a change in mandate. The BCP then behaved uncooperatively as the opposition and worked towards a victory in the following election.

Since party leader Jonathan did not get a seat in the national assembly, his party colleague Sekhonyana 'Maseribane became the country's first prime minister. Jonathan persuaded a fellow party member to resign to force a by-election. In the three by-elections due on July 7, 1965, Jonathan won his constituency and replaced 'Maseribane. Jonathan's candidacy for the by-election was supported by the apartheid regime in South Africa with a donation of 100,000 sacks of grain. Jonathan was able to maintain his slim majority thanks to the transfer of an MFP MP to the BNP. This enabled him to negotiate the conditions for independence with the United Kingdom alone and thus, among other things, weaken the role of King Moshoeshoe II .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lesotho: Authoritarian Rule, 1970-1991.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. EISA , accessed April 25, 2014@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / eisa.org.za  
  2. ↑ a b Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weis fields Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , pp. 93-94.
  3. ↑ Harold M. Glass: South African policy towards Basutoland. ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. South African Institute for International Affairs, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1966, p. 30 (English, PDF), accessed on April 26, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dspace.cigilibrary.org
  4. ^ 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. 128.