At Stake in this Election:        

• 120 members of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Lesotho 

Government Structure: 

• Chief of State: King Letsie III 

• Head of Government: Prime Minister Moeketsi MAJORO 

• Assembly: Bicameral Parliament with a 120-member National Assembly and a 33-member Senate 

Electoral System: 

• The King is a hereditary position. 

• The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly. 

• The 120 members of the National Assembly are elected using the mixed-member proportional representation system, with voters casting two votes. 80 are elected from single-member constituencies, while the other 40 are elected from a single national constituency. Members serve 5-year terms. 

• Of the 33 members in the Senate, 22 are hereditary tribal chiefs and 11 are nominated by the King on advice of the Prime Minister. Members serve 5-year terms.  

Main Parties in this Election:  

• All Basotho Convention (ABC) 

• Leader: Moeketsi MAJORO 

• Seats won in last election: 48 

• Democratic Congress (DC) 

• Leader: Mathibeli MOKHOTHU 

• Seats won in last election: 30 

• Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) 

• Leader: Mothetjoa METSING 

• Seats won in last election: 11 

• Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) 

• Leader: Sam MATEKANE 

• Seats won in last election: N/A 

Population and Registered Voters: 

• Population: 2,193,970 (2022 est.)¹ 

• Registered Voters: 1,371,898(2022)² 

Gender Data: 

• Female Population: 994,675 (2022 est.)³ 

• Is Lesotho a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 Jul 1980)⁴ 

• Has Lesotho ratified CEDAW: Yes (22 Aug 1995)⁵ 

• Gender Quota: Yes, Political parties must arrange their candidate lists alternating males and females.⁶ 

• Female Candidates in this election: Yes 

• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 28 out of 115 (24.4%) in the National Assembly; 7 out of 33 (21.2%) in the Senate⁷ 

• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: Rank 168 at 0.514 (2022)⁸ 

• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low at 0.0876 (2014)⁹ 

Disability Data: 

• Is Lesotho a signatory to CRPD: No 

• Has Lesotho ratified CRPD: Yes (Accession) (02 Dec 2008)¹⁰ 

• Population with a disability: 292,155 (2022 est.)¹¹ 

IFES Resources: 

• Does IFES have a presence in Lesotho: No 

 

1. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/lesotho/#people-and-society 

2. https://www.iec.org.ls/download/electors-information/

3. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/lesotho/#people-and-society 

4. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en 

5. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en 

6. https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas/country-view/174/35

7. https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=8&year=2022

8. https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/LSO 

9. https://www.genderindex.org/country/lesotho-2014-results/

10. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en

11. http://electionaccess.org/en/resources/countries/?q=lesotho#tab