Wealthy Lesotho businessman, Sam Matekane and his recently formed Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party appear to be heading for a landslide victory in the country’s parliamentary elections.
The party is on track to defy predictions that no single party would win a clear majority and that Lesotho would be saddled with yet another unstable coalition.
With 49 of 80 constituencies counted from Friday’s election, the seven-month-old RFP had won 41 and looked to be on course to win a simple majority in the 120-seat Parliament.
In Lesotho’s complex electoral system, 80 seats are allocated in first-past-the-post constituency elections, and a further 40 proportional representation seats are allocated according to how many votes parties win nationally.
These 40 seats are only calculated after the 80 constituency seats have been allocated. They can upset early expectations, yet the RFP appears to have such a clear lead so far that it will very likely get at least the 61 seats needed to govern on its own.
At the 49 constituency mark, the RFP was routing the traditional parties, with the second-placed Democratic Congress managing.