General elections were due to be held in

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...

in September 1985, the first since

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

, when the ruling Basotholand National Party carried out a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, ...

by declaring a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

after annulling the election, which they had lost to the Basutoland Congress Party. However, the election was boycotted by all parties except for the BNP, which duly won all 60 seats by default.September 1985 National Assembly Election
African Elections Database

References

Elections in Lesotho

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One-party elections

Uncontested elections {{Africa-election-stub