VZCZCXRO9532
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHRN
DE RUEHMR #0060/01 0371534
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061534Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY MASERU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2600
INFO RUCNSAD/SADC COLLECTIVE
RUEHMR/AMEMBASSY MASERU 2947

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000060 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR AF/S 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM LT
SUBJECT: TEMPERATURE RISING IN LESOTHO'S POLITICAL SEASON 
 
REF: A) MASERU 0037, B) MASERU 0024, C) MASERU 0020, and previous 
 
MASERU 00000060  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  Lesotho's upcoming national election, scheduled 
for February 17, has raised the tenor and velocity of political 
discourse in the Mountain Kingdom.  While a recent emergency 
meeting of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) focused on 
technical election problems, the candidate nomination process 
proceeded calmly.  A USAID-funded NDI pre-election assessment 
team concluded that while election organization could be better, 
conditions do exist for free and fair elections in Lesotho. 
Heated UN forums have allowed the diplomatic community to engage 
with the IEC and Lesotho's political parties, and SADC's 
Election Observation Mission officially announced its presence. 
It is clear to observers over the last few weeks that the 
temperature is rising here in Lesotho.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Emergency Meeting on Lost Voter Rolls 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  On January 15, Lesotho's Independent Election Commission 
(IEC) called together the heads of Lesotho's political parties 
and the diplomatic corps to discuss its state of readiness for 
the upcoming elections.  The most startling revelation was that 
a computer glitch had caused the IEC to temporarily lose more 
than 10% of the voter rolls (approximately 120,700 individuals), 
but that consultants had now recovered most of this data.  The 
IEC Chairman also announced that funds had been allocated to pay 
party agents for their observer and oversight roles at polling 
stations, as well as a very limited sum for campaign financing. 
 
-------------------------- 
Calm Candidate Nominations 
-------------------------- 
 
¶3.  On January 19, the nomination of candidates for the National 
Assembly elections proceeded smoothly throughout Lesotho and 
without any reported incidents of violence or intimidation. 
Supporters of different political parties, clad in their party 
colors, sang and chanted party slogans as they accompanied their 
candidates for registration.  As expected, the parties with the 
most supporters were the governing Lesotho Congress for 
Democracy (LCD), and the opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC) 
and Basotho National Party (BNP).  The LCD and the ABC are the 
only parties that have fielded candidates in all 80 of Lesotho's 
parliamentary constituencies (the BCP has fielded 76).  Smaller 
parties and independent candidates attended registration events 
as well. 
 
-------------------------------- 
NDI Pre-Election Assessment Team 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  On January 25, the National Democratic Institute (NDI)'s 
pre-election assessment team released its findings to a standing 
room only press conference in Maseru.  The mission--comprised of 
senior officials from Canada, Germany, Kenya, and NDI and 
supported by USAID funding--stated emphatically that in light of 
the historically new snap elections in Lesotho, "extraordinary 
times call for extraordinary measures."   The NDI team 
encouraged the IEC and the GOL to exceed the minimum legal 
requirements regarding trust building measures and to reach out 
to Basotho citizens to explain their efforts to ensure free and 
fair elections.  While announcing that conditions do exist in 
Lesotho for free and fair elections, the team offered several 
specific recommendations, including allowing parties to break up 
their allotted broadcast time on state radio and television 
channels into smaller segments and for the IEC to create an 
effective communications outreach strategy. 
 
---------------------------- 
Heated Political Discussions 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  On January 29 and 31, the UN resident coordinator, in 
collaboration with the U.S. Embassy and other donor missions, 
hosted important pre-elections meetings.  The first meeting 
brought together the diplomatic community and the Independent 
Election Commission (IEC), while the second was between the 
diplomatic community and Lesotho's political parties.  In the 
first meeting, the diplomatic community, including Ambassador 
June Carter Perry, raised several concerns: 1) the continued 
employment at the IEC of an individual in a prominent position 
who remains under a cloud of suspicion due to an ongoing fraud 
case; 2) the IEC's lack of an effective communications strategy 
on its actions and issues; and 3) the IEC's non-interference in 
the inequitable distribution of airtime on state television and 
radio.  The IEC responded, respectively, that: 1) all accused 
are innocent until proven guilty; 2) the IEC is improving its 
communications ability; and 3) while the IEC has responsibility 
to ensure equal coverage of parties in the state media, it has 
no actual power. 
 
MASERU 00000060  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6.  The second forum became a heated platform for political 
parties to raise grievances about perceived flaws in Lesotho's 
electoral system.  While raising many of the same issues as in 
the first meeting, opposition parties also raised a number of 
concerns relating to the potential for fraud in the February 
polling.  One party leader, retired General Lekhanya of the 
Basotho National Party, stated his belief that Prime Minister 
Mosisili had approached outside nations for "military help" in 
case events turned sour following Lesotho's elections.  This 
lively forum highlighted the rumors, complaints, and mistrust 
circulating in Lesotho prior to the national election. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Launch of SADC Observation Mission 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  On February 5, the Southern African Development Community 
(SADC) Parliamentary Forum's Electoral Observer Mission convened 
a public event to announce its official launch.  The delegation 
included SADC Secretariat Political Director Lt. Col. Tanki 
Mothae, SADC Executive Secretary Dr. Tomaz Salomao, and Head of 
the SADC Observer Mission Capt. John Chiligati.  The delegation 
announced that SADC would attempt to have observers in all of 
Lesotho's ten districts, and that they would cross-check and 
compare notes with other observation missions.  They stressed 
that their approach would be "eyes on, hands off," and they 
appealed for maximum cooperation from the IEC and the Basotho 
people.  High-ranking members of the delegation expressed their 
thanks to Ambassador Perry for the USG's financial support of 
their mission. 
 
------------------ 
Temperature Rising 
------------------ 
 
¶8.  COMMENT: As the February 17th election edges closer, the 
pitch of political debate and complaint in Maseru is rising. 
Opposition parties do have room to rail against certain aspects 
of Lesotho's democratic process -- for example, one Embassy 
officer was recent told by two separate senior reporters for the 
government wire service that they have been secretly banned from 
writing news about opposition parties.  At the same time, the 
systems put in place by the IEC to resist fraud in voting and 
vote tallying are formidable and compare well to many Western 
nations.  Embassy Maseru and the rest of the diplomatic 
community have expressed clearly to the IEC that additional 
efforts (e.g. radio communications) are needed to let the 
general public know about its efforts to avoid fraud in the 
upcoming polls, and that the IEC must continue to fight for 
equal treatment of political parties in the state media.  We 
note that the IEC did respond, taking their message to rural 
areas last week through a series of public meetings.  END 
COMMENT. 
PERRY