SA congratulates Lesotho's new Prime Minister

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has congratulated Pakalitha Mosisili on his election as Prime Minister of Lesotho following the February 28 National Assembly Elections.

In a statement on Saturday, President Zuma expressed his commitment to working closely with Prime Minister Mosisili to “enhance the historical political relations that exist between South Africa and Lesotho, paying particular focus on strengthening economic and social cooperation”.

In his message, President Zuma also congratulated the people of Lesotho for conducting a peaceful, transparent, credible, free and fair election as declared by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observation Mission.

Last week, the Democratic Congress (DC), led by Mosisili, and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), led by Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, announced that they would form a coalition government with five other opposition parties.

Outgoing Prime Minister Thomas Thabane's All Basotho Convention (ABC) lost the elections after the allocation of seats. The ABC, however, equalled opposition in the number of constituencies.

Results showed that Mosisili's DC won 47 seats, followed by Thabane's ABC with 46, while Metsing's LCD won 12 seats.

As there was no clear poll winner, the DC and LCD have signed an agreement to form a coalition with five other parties.

The coalition should have at least 61 seats in the 120-member Parliament.

In the coalition government, Mosisili is Prime Minister and Metsing is his deputy.

It is hoped that the elections will end the political impasse that started in June last year in the small kingdom. - SAnews.gov.za