Thousands of Basotho thronged around polling stations waiting to vote in Lesotho’s parliamentary election long before the polls opened at 7am on Saturday.
Many voters slept at the polling centres to ensure an early vote. About 900 000 voters are expected at the polls.
Prime Minister Pakadita Mosisili flew to vote in his home village of Tsoelike in the south eastern Quacha’s Nek district in a Lesotho defence force air squadron helicopter.
President Thabo Mbeki in a statement on Friday urged the citizens of Lesotho to turn out in ”large numbers” and ”in peace”.
”It is our fervent hope that a durable and secure political system will emerge in Lesotho so that this nation can play a substantial role in Africa’s unfolding destiny against the background of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the increasingly real prospect of an African Renaissance,” Mbeki said.
A new electoral system for Lesotho’s elections aims to spare this small southern African kingdom from the coups and political upheavals of its past.
Nineteen political parties will compete in the third general election in the country’s history with an overhauled system that will make it difficult for any party to dominate parliament.
The reforms hope to make it easier for opposition parties to gain seats in parliament and avoid a repeat of the violent aftermath of the 1998 elections when troops from South Africa and Botswana entered the country to quell an army mutiny and strikes that paralysed the capital of Maseru.
The opposition Besotho National Party sparked the riots and strikes after the last election was swept by the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy party.
Under the new system, voters will cast two ballots – one for the party of their choice and a second for a candidate from their district.
Forty parliamentary seats will come from the party list and the party with the most votes nationally will select a prime minister.
Eighty seats will come from candidates elected in individual districts.
This is the fist time such an electoral system – similar to one in place in Germany – will be used in Africa.
”We aim for African states to come and learn from us,” said Rethabile Pholo, representative for Lesotho’s Independent Electoral Commission.
Pholo said that it was important that Lesotho set an example for African democracy after the 1998 unrest left 75 people dead and widespread destruction and after the recent disputed elections in Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
The country’s history has been marred by political upheavals since independence from Britain in 1966.
Elections in 1970 were cancelled when the ruling party feared it would lose. A military coup in 1986 gave way to elections in 1993 with a single party winning every seat.
In 1998, the opposition Besotho National Party won a seat in parliament, marking the first time an opposition party had a seat since independence.
Lesotho, a mountainous kingdom slightly smaller than Belgium completely surrounded by South Africa, is among the world’s least developed nations.
The two million people in this predominantly Christian country of rugged mountains and open plains are dependent largely on the South African economy for jobs.
Lekhanya Lekhanya (38) who has been unemployed since he lost his job at a South African gold mine, said he is not sure the elections would bring the economic and political stability his fellow citizens seek.
But looking for some sort of change, he says he plans to split his ticket – voting for one party for in the national vote and a candidate from a different party for the district vote.
”I think it gives each and everybody a chance,” said Lekhanya. – Sapa, AP, AFP