By Sifelani Tsiko

Harare, Zimbabwe (Feb 25 2007)

Lesotho's ruling party shrugged off a tough challenge from the opposition to win a landslide victory in the February 17 parliamentary poll held recently in the tiny African kingdom.

The Lesotho Congress for Democracy won a massive 61 seats out of a total of 80 while the main opposition All Basotho Convention got 17 seats and the Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) one.

Lesotho voters elected 80 legislators into the country's 120 member chamber using the first-past-the-post system and an additional 40 on a proportional representation basis used since 2002.

LCD's alliance partner, the National Independence Party won 21 of the 40 seats lending Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili a majority in his third term of office.

The opposition ABC was formed by former foreign affairs minister Tom Thabane who broke away from the LCD after getting frustrated by non-performance of the Mosisili's government.

Most observer missions including the Southern African Development Community Electoral Observer Mission endorsed the vote as peaceful and reflecting the general wish of the Basotho people.

"There has been no reported violence at polling stations even though voters queued for long hours in the heat," John Chiligati head of the Sadc mission was quoted saying.

The LCD won most of its seats in the rural areas and ABC in the urban constituencies. 

In his campaign Mosisili told voters that his party had brought peace and stability to the country after violence erupted over disputed election results of 1998 elections which led to the near destruction of Maseru, the capital.

Botswana and South Africa intervened to restore peace and order.

Thabane campaigned on the back of promises to fight poverty and corruption.

Lesotho ruled by King Letsie III is completely surrounded by South Africa and has managed to six polls since independence from Britain in 1966.

More than 920 000 people voted in the February poll in this country with a population of around 2 million people.

The landlocked country depends on agriculture. Unemployment, the HIV and Aids pandemic and major problems in this tiny kingdom.

The country has an inflation rate of five percent and a predicted economic growth rate of 3,5 percent.