Lesotho: Incumbent Mosisili loses election to former Prime Minister Thabane

Former Prime Minister of Lesotho, Thomas Thabane has taken the lead in the country’s parliamentary election, according to the final results published on Tuesday.

Thabane’s party won 48 seats out of 120, ahead of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, who won only 30 seats, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.

Thabane, who made a comeback after a two-year exile, will be charged to form a coalition government in the coming days.

“We intend to form a government with the Democratic Alliance, the Basotho National Party and the Reformed Congress of Lesotho,” said Samonyane Ntsekele, Secretary General of the Basotho Convention (ABC) .

“We will make this coalition government official in the next two days,” he added.

Thomas Thabane is expected to return to his post as head of government, three years after he was chased out of the country by a failed military coup.

In August 2014, soldiers attacked police stations in the capital, Maseru, looted arms and killed a peacekeeper. Fearing for his life, Thomas Thabane fled to South Africa. He briefly returned in 2015 for parliamentary elections where he was beaten.

Lesotho, which has been hit by political instability for five years, is one of the poorest countries in the world.

It depends essentially on its South African neighbor which provides much of its water.