Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is set to undertake the demarcation of constituencies’ boundaries. This is per the legal notice No. 109 titled
‘The National Assembly Electoral (Constituency Delimitation) published last month. The Commission has a Constitutional obligation and legal mandate to undertake this exercise. “The Commission notifies the general public
that it will review the boundaries of the Constituencies in which Lesotho is divided,” reads the gazette. Section 66 (1) (c) charges IEC to “delimit the
boundaries of constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution and any other law”. The delimitation of the constituencies is a decennial undertaking which is carried out after every census.
However, this exercise has been pending owing to absence of the Commissioners, for about two years. The Commissioners were sworn in in December last year.
Section 67 (1) of the Constitution states that: “For the purpose of elections of the National Assembly Lesotho shall, in accordance with the provisions of this section, be divided into eighty
constituencies through an order made by the Electoral Commission. (2) “All constituencies shall contain as nearly equal numbers of inhabitants of or above the age of eighteen years as it
appears to the Commission to be reasonably practicable…. ” Before undertaking this delimitation of constituencies exercise, the Constitution requires that IEC issue a call for
relevant stakeholders’ representation to a proposed review. Section 67 (3) of the Constitution says: “The Commission shall review the boundaries of the constituencies in which Lesotho
is divided in the case of any review after the review of boundaries…. “Provided that whenever a census of the population has been held in pursuance of any law the Commission may carry out
such a review and make such an alteration to the extent which it considers desirable in consequence of that census. ” There are currently 80 constituencies in
Lesotho. Last week saw the National Reforms Authority (NRA) agreeing on 60 contested seats in the National Assembly in what it said will give the minority and vulnerable groups representation in the lower house.
Meanwhile, the public opinions contained in the Multistakeholder National Dialogue Plenary II Report says the status quo should be maintained, that is 80 contested seats at the constituencies.
On the other developments, IEC has been sued for not holding by-elections at five constituencies which have no representation in parliament. ‘Masemethe Ts’olo, Khololikane Thobi, Selone
Sebapo and Mapulane Mohale have petitioned the High Court to declare Commission’s failure to hold by-elections move “unlawful, illegal, irrational and unreasonable”.
The constituencies without representation are: Makhoroana No. 20, ‘Maliepetsane No. 51, Mohale’s Hoek No. 58, Qacha’s Nek No. 69 and Kolo No. 49. These are vacant following the deaths of their MPs (members
of parliament) with exemption of Qacha’s Nek No. 69 whose former MP, Dr Ponts’o Sekatle has resigned in parliament to take up an ambassadorial post, in
Belgium. Earlier in June, Informative Newspaper saw a correspondence between the Ministry of Finance Budget Controller and the IEC acting Director of Elections wherein the former told the latter that the
by-elections had not been budgeted for. “Your office is kindly informed to note that the budget for By-elections was not included in the 2021/2022 budget estimates.
Therefore, our recommendation is that IEC should begin preparations for 2022 General Elections,” reads the correspondence. The general elections will take place next year.
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