Lesotho

Lesotho A landlocked country entirely surrounded by South Africa. It became the British colony of Basutoland in 1884 and was granted independence on 4 October 1966, under King Moshoeshoe II. The first government was formed by the conservative and pro-South African Basutoland National Party (BNP), which had won the first elections in 1965. Its leader, Lebua Jonathan, severely curtailed the King's powers. Following its strong showing in the 1970 elections, Jonathan outlawed the rival socialist Basutoland Congress Party (BCP), suspended the constitution, and brutally suppressed all opposition. He was deposed with South African help in 1986, when a coalition of the military, royalists, and educated elites took over the government. The construction of the world's largest reservoir from 1986 to provide drinking water for Johannesburg has given a significant boost to the country's economy, but has deepened its dependence on South Africa. A further military coup occurred in 1991, but South African pressure led to a general election in 1993, which was won by the BCP. One of the world's poorest countries, it relied heavily on a migrant labour force working in South Africa (almost 40 per cent of the working male population), whose earnings made up over half of national income.

Political instability led to another army coup in 1995. In 1996, Letsie III became King. In fair but controversial elections held in 1998, the new Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) under Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili took 79 of 80 seats under an election system that favoured stronger parties. Army and popular revolts followed, and were brutally suppressed with the help of troops from South Africa and Botswana. The government subsequently tried to revive the economy through a large-scale programme of privatization. To stabilize the political system, it changed the electoral laws. In addition to the 80 seats determined by the first-past-the-post system, 40 seats were now determined by proportional representation. In 2002 Mosisili was elected to a second term, as the LCD gained 77 of the directly elected seats. The strongest challenger was the BNP, which obtained 21 of the seats awarded through proportional representation.