Lekhetho Ntsukunyane
ALL Basotho Convention (ABC) leader, Thomas Thabane has reiterated his plea for a massive voter turnout that would ensure his party registers a “clean-sweep” in all 80 constituencies in next week’s snap polls.
Dr Thabane said this while addressing approximately 10 000 supporters who thronged Hlotse in the Leribe district early this week for a joint rally for the 13 constituencies in the district.
Lesotho will hold national elections on 3 June and these were announced by King Letsie after the ABC joined hands with the Alliance of Democrats (AD), Basotho National Party (BNP) and the Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL) to topple the Pakalitha Mosisili-led seven parties’ coalition government in a parliamentary vote on 1 March.
The opposition bloc had hoped to form a new government in which AD leader Monyane Moleleki would become Prime Minister for the first 18 months after which he would be succeeded by Dr Thabane.
However, their plans were scuttled when King Letsie III heeded Dr Mosisili’s advice to dissolve parliament and call for the snap elections.
Since the opposition leaders had managed to forge an alliance that effectively forced the snap polls, expectations had been high that they could still form another pact on fighting the upcoming elections to avoid splitting their vote in the same fashion mooted by their arch foes – the DC and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) – who have formed an electoral pact.
However, the closest the opposition came to an electoral pact was when they held a joint rally on 6 May in the Mahobong constituency where Dr Thabane and other leaders, Mr Moleleki (AD), Thesele ‘Maseribane (BNP) and Keketso Rantšo (RCL) announced a voting agreement to support each other’s candidates in selected constituencies.
They agreed to vote the ABC in Mahobong, which is the home constituency of deputy Prime Minister and LCD leader, Mothetjoa Metsing.
They also agreed to back the ABC in Abia (the home constituency of Dr Thabane), the AD in Machache (the home constituency of Mr Moleleki), the BNP in Mount Moorosi (the home constituency of Chief ‘Maseribane), the RCL in Taung (the home constituency of Ms Rantšo) and in Tsoelike (the home constituency of Dr Mosisili).
However, the pact unraveled last week when a visibly angry Ms Rantšo addressed a rally in Taung number 56 in the Mohale’s Hoek district and told her supporters to disregard the voting pact and only back RCL candidates.
Ms Rantšo’s call was made in retaliation to ABC supporters in Taung who are opposed to voting for her in the constituency as per the 6 May agreement.
And on Sunday, the former Prime Minister told the multitudes that his wish was for the ABC to win “convincingly” in all constituencies and form government with other opposition parties on the basis of the votes they would garner in the polls.
He however, acknowledged the instrumental role Mr Moleleki played in bringing him back from exile early this year.
“When I decided to come back to Lesotho, I made that decision with my wife and nobody else.
“I can only tell you that there was one man who also contributed meaningfully to my coming back; that man is Mr Monyane Moleleki, commonly known as Mokola. This is the man who, just like me, bore the brunt of being in government under the leadership of Ntate Mosisili. For his contribution, I want to thank Mokola.”
The ABC leader arrived in Maseru from exile on 12 February 2017 along with Chief ’Maseribane and Ms Rantšo. The trio fled the country in May 2015, citing plots to assassinate them by members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF). However, the LDF has consistently denied the allegations.
They were welcomed by Mr Moleleki and hundreds of AD supporters upon their return.
Inspite of this, Dr Thabane said the ABC votes should not be compromised for the sake of friendship and the envisaged partnership with his opposition colleagues.
“My wish is that, if possible, ABC should win all 80 constituencies emphatically.
I am appealing to all ABC supporters to ensure we win in all constituencies and our partners can still join us in forming the government through the proportional representation seats that they would have attained. They are still our partners,” Dr Thabane said.
He said winning all 80 constituencies was not just a dream, adding, “In fact I can realise from this very gathering that ABC can win all the constituencies in the Leribe district”.
With its 13 constituencies, Leribe is second only to Maseru (which has 18) in terms of having the highest number of constituencies.
