Lesotho’s diamond millionaire, whose newly formed party Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) won the most seats in last week’s election but fell short of an overall majority, announced Tuesday that he would head a three-party coalition government, reported The Reuters.
According to official results declared by Lesotho’s electoral body, the RFP secured 56 seats in the election. The party needs to court other parties to control the country’s 120-member parliament.
During a media briefing at a hotel in the capital Maseru on Tuesday, RFP founder Sam Matekane said he had formed an alliance with two other parties including the Alliance of Democrats (AD) and the Movement for Economic Change (MEC). The AD won six seats in the elections, while the MEC secured five seats.
The RFP party leader was accompanied by AD deputy leader Ntoi Rapapa and MEC leader Selibe Mochoboroane.
“One thing for sure of the many things that we are going to do is to downsize the cabinet, and all our members will declare their assets, including myself,” Matekane told reporters.
He said the three parties are currently working on a coalition agreement, which will be announced to the public after it gets finalized. He assured that the coalition would tackle crime and eradicating corruption within the first 100 days in office.
“We are taking over a bankrupt government and we will be using our personal cars and staying in our homes until things have gone back to normalcy,” Matekane said.
The recently held election was held despite a deadlock in Lesotho’s parliament on constitutional reforms, which were supposed to be enacted ahead of the vote to bring the country’s fractioned politics in order. The reforms would have barred lawmakers from making a switch to other party within the first three years of their tenure.
The new Matekane-led government has vowed to push through with the reform as soon as possible.
