LESOTHO: The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) was yesterday heading for electoral victory in the fractious mountain kingdom but with a reduced majority.
Though a tiny country with a population of hardly more than two million and completely surrounded by South Africa and dependent on it economically, Lesotho's election, held at the weekend, is still of major symbolic importance to southern Africa.
Another disputed election in southern Africa, coming in the wake of bitter recriminations after elections in Zambia in January and, more crucially, Zimbabwe in March, would not commend the region as fertile terrain for democracy or a profitable area for investors.
Nor would it help President Thabo Mbeki promote Africa as a continent committed to good governance as prescribed by the New Partnership (with the richer countries of Europe and the US) for African Development adopted by the Organisation for African Unity.
That aside, South Africa's interest in the election is direct and immediate.
It intervened militarily in Lesotho in 1998 to restore order at the request of the LCD after opposition leaders, disgruntled at the LCD victory in a general election earlier that year, sought to topple the government through street demonstrations and by subverting the police and army.
South Africa, acting in concert with Botswana and under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community, forestalled the overthrow of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili.
After restoring order, South Africa counselled the Basotho people to adopt an electoral system that included a proportional representation component.
A new system was devised, providing for 80 constituency-based, winner-take-all seats, and 40 seats distributed in proportion to the votes polled by the contesting partners in the 80 constituencies.
By yesterday, with results from nearly half of the constituency-based seats, it was clear that Mr Mosisili's Lesotho Congress for Democracy would return to power with about 54 per cent of the vote.
It shed support to both the Basotho National Party, headed by former Gen Justin Lekhanya, who presided over a military regime in the mid-1980s, and to the Basutoland Congress Party, but seemed set to retain enough support to coast to victory.
Gen Lekhanya spoke of a "rigged election", while denying reports there would be protest demonstrations in the capital, Maseru.
That was just "tongue talk", he reportedly told an observer.