King Letsie III calls for elections after dissolving Lesotho’s parliament
Lesotho’s monarch, King Letsie III, has dissolved the kingdom’s parliament and called for elections, according to Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, who commented on state-owned Radio Lesotho. The king would announce the date for elections within four days, Metsing said. Opposition parties won a motion of no confidence in the government on March 1, forcing Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili to either advise the king to dissolve parliament and call for elections, or resign and allow legislators to choose a replacement. Mosisili came to power in March 2015, after cobbling together an alliance of seven parties that won 65 seats in the 120-seat Parliament. The coalition was dogged by infighting and the resignation of several cabinet ministers. Mosisili’s predecessor, Tom Thabane, the leader of the All Basotho Convention, exploited the divisions and in November 2016 announced that he had struck a deal with other opposition parties to topple the government. Lesotho has a population o...
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