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Voter education a priority - UNDP

Country Map - Lesotho, South Africa IRIN
South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho
It is critical for Lesotho's economic recovery that the country does not have a repeat of the disastrous 1998 general election, the United Nations Development Programme told IRIN Monday. The 1998 election results were rejected by the three main opposition parties who alleged the polls were rigged. Hundreds of people demonstrated for weeks outside King Letsie III's palace, demanding that the government step down and hold new elections. The rejection of the 1998 result plunged Lesotho into one of the bleakest periods in its history. Widespread arson and looting turned the capital, Maseru, into a ghost town. The Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, called for military intervention by the Southern African Development Community to help restore law and order. South African and Botswanan troops were sent in and faced stiff opposition from Lesotho Army mutineers. On 25 May voters in the constitutional monarchy will go to the polls. The country is still coming to terms with the loss of life and economic fallout that occurred in 1998. Acting resident representative for the UNDP in Lesotho, Ernest Fausther, told IRIN on Monday that it was critical that there was across-the-board acceptance of the electoral process, especially from the security forces. Hence, voter education and electoral monitoring were key. "Our election monitoring team has been approved by the Department of Political Affairs ... we will be providing support in terms of monitoring and voter education," Fausther said. The number of observers that would be deployed was still to be finalised. A voter education programme developed by the UNDP's Lesotho office had been approved in New York. "We're looking at rolling out early April, already the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) has people out in the field explaining the electoral system to people, what we are going to do is support them," he said. UNDP Resident Representative Bereng Sekhonyana, along with the IEC, will be briefing donor nations about plans for the elections in South Africa this week. Analysts have ascribed Lesotho's political problems to its first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system. In 1998 Mosisili's Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) won 60,7 percent of the vote while the Basuto National Party (BNP) got 24,5 percent. But due to the FPTP electoral system the LCD took 79 seats in parliament while the BNP got just one. Said Fausther: "Nobody wants to see a repeat of 1998. The Basotho people and their leaders are very keen to make sure that things do not get derailed ... so many people lost their jobs, they haven't recovered [from the effects of 1998]." The UNDP and the donor community had been working with the IEC to ensure the proportional representation model was included in this election, "so, even if you are a small party you can still get in". The focus at the moment was on voter education "to make people conversant with the new model". "We are also looking at running a few workshops for the armed forces, the police and army, as it's critical they are informed and aware so that there's more buy-in [for the process]. "The logistics are important... to avoid last minute problems. The credibility [of the election] will be based on how well the election is run. The UN is firmly behind the process and working with all the stakeholders to make sure that things go well," said Fausther.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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