THE outcome of the trial pertaining to the erroneous allocation of compensatory seats in parliament to some political parties shall not have a significant bearing on the formation of the new coalition government led by Sam Matekane’s Revolution for Prosperity (RFP), local political analyst, Sam Mphaka says.
politics
Oct. 25, 2022
NEO SENOKO
2 min read
PR seats reallocation unlikely to change anything – analyst
Local political analyst, Sam Mphaka
Story highlights
IEC confirms erroneous allocation of seats
Constitutional Court to finalise the case of Friday this week
He, therefore, believes that the swearing-in of Members of Parliament (MPs) scheduled for Tuesday this week will continue as planned.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) confirmed the erroneous allocation of PR seats to parties such as the Democratic Congress (DC) and the Alliance of Democrats (AD).
Other parties including the Basotho National Party (BNP), the Basotho Patriotic Party (BPP), and the United for Change, were incorrectly denied PR seats in the process.
According to the IEC, the DC had been erroneously allocated 11 PR seats instead of 8, while the AD, which is part of the new coalition government was erroneously allocated three instead of two seats.
As a result, the elections authority sought permission from the High Court to recalculate the PR seats that are due to the parties that contested the October 7 elections and reallocate them accordingly.
The IEC further filed an urgent application seeking an order to interdict Tuesday’s Parliament session, but its plea was unsuccessful.
“In my opinion, what matters most is whether or not the decision of the court, be it for or against DC and AD, will change the overall results of the general elections as they stand now. If the answer is no, the swearing-in should proceed as planned. However, if the answer is yes, then the swearing-in should not continue.
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“It would appear, unless something unexpected occurs, to DC, and one to AD, might not change the results of the overall elections, no matter the decision of the court. On that basis, it would not be advisable to postpone any activities leading to the swearing-in of the incoming Prime Minister, and other MPs along with the Speaker that the four proportional seats in question, three pertaining and Deputy Speaker of the house,” Mphaka told Maseru Metro.
In her ruling at the weekend, Justice 'Mafelile Ralebese ordered that the process should go ahead with the DC still holding its 29 seats and the AD its five seats as previously allocated, pending the finalisation of the matter.
The Constitutional Court will hear the matter on Friday this week.
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