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Lesotho opposition chief threatens mass protests
Real estate news By AFP
Oct 18, 2007
Lesotho's opposition leader vowed Thursday to lead a campaign of mass protests to force new elections if the government fails to agree to talks to settle a dispute over the allocation of parliamentary seats. "We will take to the streets and exert more pressure on the government to hold fresh elections if they continue to fail to cooperate," Tom Thabane, leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, told AFP.
Thabane's comments come amid a continuing impasse between the governing Lesotho Congress for Democracy, which won most seats in a February election, and the ABC which is disputing the final number of seats. The dispute has poisoned the atmosphere between government and opposition in the tiny southern African kingdom which has seen a number of shooting attacks on senior politicians since February, including one on Thabane's home.
Former Botswanan president Sir Ketumile Masire has been tasked by the regional Southern African Development Community to mediate an end to the dispute but only once legal challenges to the result are resolved. Although the LCD held an initial meeting with Masire, it has refused to attend any follow-up meetings with his mediation team. Under Lesotho's electoral system, 80 lawmakers are elected in constituencies and another 40 are chosen by proportional representation. Following February's election, 21 of those 40 proportional representation seats were allocated to the LCD and its allies, a figure disputed by the ABC which nevertheless acknowledges that it lost the overall election.
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