MASERU (Reuters) – Lesotho’s newly formed party Revolution for Prosperity (RFP), which won the most seats in last week’s election but fell short of an overall majority, has formed a coalition government with two other opposition parties, its leader said on Tuesday.
The kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa has been marred by years of political instability under the outgoing All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, which had been in power since 2017.
RFP founder Sam Matekane told a media briefing he had formed an alliance with two other parties – the Alliance of Democrats (AD) and the Movement for Economic Change (MEC) – after securing 56 seats in the election and needing to court other parties to control Lesotho’s 120-member parliament.
Formed in March this year, the populist RFP has promised to do away with rampant corruption and focus on economic growth.
“One thing for sure of the many things that we are going to do is to downsize the cabinet, and all our members will declare their assets, including myself,” Matekane, the wealthy businessman who created the party, told reporters.
He said the parties were also working on a coalition agreement, which will be made public after the approval. The coalition would tackle “crime and eradicating corruption within the (first) 100 days in office,” Matekane said.
“We are taking over a bankrupt government and we will be using our personal cars and staying in our homes until things have gone back to normalcy.”
The election went ahead despite a deadlock in parliament on constitutional reforms meant to be enacted ahead of the vote to bring order to Lesotho’s fractious politics.
(Reporting by Marafaele Mohloboli; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by James Macharia Chege and Raissa Kasolowsky)
