Strengthening parliamentary democracy in SADC countries: Lesotho country report

This report presents the results of the research conducted by the author from December 2003 to April 2004 in Maseru, Lesotho's capital. The instruments and methods used for generating the required data appear in the first section of this report. The study reveals that the present parliamentary model is welcomed in Lesotho, although the feeling, as deduced from the informants, is that parliament is alienated from the population, weakly linked with civil society and made up of poorly educated people who can hardly appreciate its role and functions. Parliament's mixed membership has barely changed anything in terms of increasing popular participation and control. It has failed to reconcile the nation, as evidenced by the BNP's refusal to participate in by-elections and the ruling party's view that PR parliamentary seats are not legitimate.