Parliamentary elections in Lesotho 1970

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The parliamentary elections in Lesotho in 1970 took place on January 27 and 28, 1970 in the Kingdom of Lesotho . The members of the National Assembly should be elected . However, the elections were canceled because the ruling Basotho National Party (BNP) was defeated by the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP).

Starting position

In 1965 the BNP had won the last election to the National Assembly before independence in 1966 before the BCP and henceforth ruled alone under Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan . According to the constitution, elections should now take place again. The 60 parliamentarians were to be elected by majority voting.

procedure

The count was initially calm. It was only when it became known that the BCP had won several constituencies that were considered to be the strongholds of the BNP that the government stopped broadcasting the election results on Radio Lesotho .

Result

285,257 votes were cast. The BCP won an absolute majority of the seats with 49.9% of the vote and 36 seats. The BNP received 42.2% of the vote and 23 seats, while the monarchist Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) received 7.3% and one seat. 0.1% went to other parties, 0.5% to independents. The results were not published, but were calculated from the individual results.

consequences

Jonathan had the election nullified and repealed the constitution. He claimed that there were irregularities in the constituencies won by the BCP, and described the constitution, under which he ruled for five years, as externally imposed. King Moshoeshoe II , who refused to abolish the constitution, was temporarily forced into exile.

As a result, the BNP ruled with a hard hand under Prime Minister Jonathan. Numerous members of the opposition were killed or went into exile. In 1974 an attempted coup by BCP politicians failed. As a result, the Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA) was founded as the armed wing of part of the BCP. The government suspended the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly, and replaced it with the Interim National Assembly of appointed members.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Lesotho: Authoritarian Rule, 1970–1991. EISA , accessed February 12, 2016
  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. 94-95.