Lesotho Forms Five Parties Government

The poll was intended to ease tensions after an attempted coup last August.

The All Basotho Convention (ABC) of outgoing Prime Minister Thomas Thobane came second with 46 seats.

Pakalitha Mosisili's Democratic Congress was narrowly ahead with 47 seats and formed a majority of 61 with other smaller parties.

Even though politicians showed a level of maturity during the elections, Lesotho still faces underlying unresolved issues that triggered last year's crisis.

The country urgently needs institutional reforms which clearly articulate the role of the police, army and the role of the opposition in parliament.

The coalition partners would need a two-thirds majority to amend the constitution, which is unlikely given the strong opposition they will face from the party of the outgoing Prime Minister.

ECONOMIC HUB

Lesotho may be a small country of just over two million people, but it is closely watched by South Africa as it produces water for the region's economic hub, which cannot afford further political instability. Lesotho's voters are also hoping politicians will put their differences aside and focus on creating employment for the youth and developing the country.

Announcing the final results, Lesotho's Independent Electoral Commission urged all parties to break away from a cycle of political intolerance.

Last year's power struggle polarised Lesotho's security forces, with the police believed to have sided with Mr Thabane and the army seen as backing his deputy, Mothejoa Metsing who leads the Lesotho Congress for Democracy.

Mr Metsing will remain deputy prime minister as his party has joined the new coalition with its 12 seats in the 120-member parliament.

The army was confined to barracks for the election, which observers said was free and fair. The regional bloc SADC deployed 475 police officers to provide security.

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader Raila Odinga was in Lesotho to lead the African election observers.

Odinga, led the African Union Election Observers Mission to monitor the Lesotho elections that scheduled for February 28th, 2015.

In January, the Commission of the African Union asked Odinga to lead its observer mission to the elections in line with the Durban Declaration of July 2002 on the principles regulating democratic elections in Africa.

By Tom Omulo.