Vote counting begins in highly contested Lesotho election

Votes counting began in Lesotho’s hotly contested national election on Saturday evening.

The election comes just two years after the previous one as the Southern African kingdom struggles with political instability.

Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, who had been in power since 2015, lost a confidence vote in parliament in March after several defections by ruling coalition lawmakers to the opposition eroded his support.

Democratic Congress party leader Mosisili’s main rival is All Basotho Convention head Thomas Thabane, who governed from 2012 until 2015.

The nation of 2 million people has been hit by several coups since independence from Britain in 1966 and army troops were on duty until the polls closed later in the afternoon.

Election officials expect results to start trickling in early on Sunday.