Lesotho quota system yields results at local government level

The proportion of women elected in Lesotho’s October 2011 local government elections decreased from 58% (2005 elections) to 49%. However, the result is considered by many a more representative reflection of the aspirations of voters after amendments to the country’s quota system were implemented for the vote. Further, Lesotho remains in the lead as far as women’s representation in SADC local government.

Lesotho’s bold local level experiment with quotas in a FPTP electoral system offers many lessons for the region in the countdown to 2015.

In 2005, Lesotho adopted a system whereby 30% of all constituencies were reserved for women À“ in other words, only women could contest in these constituencies. Women and men could both compete on a winner-takes-all basis in the remaining 70% of seats. The Electoral Act made provision for this system to rotate to different constituencies for at least three elections, at which time it would be evaluated and assessed.

Along with their guaranteed 30%, women also won 28% in the openly contested constituencies. This resulted in 58% women’s representation À“ at the time it was the only SADC country in which women held a majority of decision-making positions at any level of government.

But this success came at a cost. Litjotjela farmer Tsepo Molefe challenged the legislated 30% quota for women on the grounds that it infringed his constitutional rights. The Court ruled in favour of the electoral law as “justifiable discrimination.À Unhappy with this decision, political parties lobbied the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to investigate and initiate a law more favourable to all. Political parties argued that they needed to be free to field candidates in any constituency.

The IEC then embarked on a fact-finding trip to Tanzania. The group included members of political parties and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy (MLGC).

Borrowing from the Tanzania model, Lesotho amended its electoral legislation ahead of the 2011 elections. The new system did away with reserved seats. However, it introduced 30% seats reserved for women above and beyond the original constituencies. These were distributed between parties using proportional representation.

In order to ensure the new system delivered gender parity, civil society organisations, including Women in Law Southern Africa and Gender Links, worked with the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation on a 50/50 campaign. The campaign sought to equip women politicians with knowledge and skills on gender, issues of governance, electoral laws and how to run political campaigns. GL’s Centres of Excellence training for gender in local government includes developing and implementing a campaign. GL worked with women politicians in ten COE councils to develop their campaigns.

Mathato Mabitle from Mokhotlong, Sanqebethu Community Council, initially had no interest in politics but decided to throw her hat in the ring in 2011.

“In early 2011 I attended a SADC Gender Protocol village workshop organised by Gender Links at Mateanong Community Council. It was my first encounter with GL. The workshop was very important, as it was my first time to even know that Lesotho was part of SADC countries and more importantly had signed the SADC Gender Protocol. We were also encouraged to publicise it in our communities. This is how I became involved with the GL Women in Politics workshops held at Mateanong Council to help me prepare for local government elections as an independent candidate. Unfortunately, I did not win but I am continuing with my work of supporting HIV and AIDS groups. I have also been talking about gender issues at those support group meetings and in other public gatherings. I am inspired to continue with the work I do in the community because of my role models.À

While Mabitle did not win, other 50/50 campaign participants did go on to win a seat. Table 2.9 provides a breakdown of the 2011 local government election results.

Table 2.9 Lesotho 2011 local government election results

Source: Compiled from the IEC Database, 2011 and MLGC information. Compiled by Matseliso Mapetla, University of Lesotho.

Table 2.9 shows election results obtained from IEC and MLGC databases . A total of 1276 Councillors won seats in the October 2011 vote. This includes men and women elected through the FPTP seats, special reserved seats for women and elected chiefs. Of the total number of councillors, women make up 49%.

Women won 282 out of 823 FPTP seats (34%). These women successfully contested elections in the “winner take allÀ system. This is a significant achievement and an increase from 28% in 2005. The highest proportion of women who won seats in the openly contested elections (221 or 44.1%) come from the Lesotho Congress of Democracy (LCD) party. Three parties did not elect any women.

Thirty women, 17.3%, were independent. Of the 298 reserved seats distributed on a PR basis, the LCD won the majority of these, 190 (63.7%), with the All Basotho Convention (ABC) winning 76 (25.5%) seats. The two parties account for approximately 90% of the reserved seats.