The Basotho National Party is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

, founded in 1959 in colonial

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...

as the Basutoland National Party by

Leabua Jonathan Joseph Leabua Jonathan (30 October 1914 – 5 April 1987) was the first prime minister of Lesotho. He succeeded Chief Sekhonyana Nehemia Maseribane following a by-election and held that post from 1965 to 1986. Early life and career Born in L ...

. He was Prime Minister from the 1965 general election until the 1986 coup d'état. In the 1993 general election, the BNP received almost 23% of the vote but did not win any seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, with all 65 seats going to the party's rival, the

Basutoland Congress Party The Basutoland Congress Party is a pan-Africanist and left-wing political party in Lesotho. The Basutoland African Congress (BAC) was founded in 1952 by Ntsu Mokhehle and Potlako Leballo. The party was renamed the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP ...

(BCP). It suffered a similar defeat in the 1998 general election, in which it won 24.5% of the vote but only one seat in the National Assembly. Due to its lack of success in winning constituencies, the party sought the introduction of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

in deciding the allocation of seats; as a compromise, a mixed system providing for 40 compensatory seats that would be decided through proportional representation (in addition to the 80 constituency seats) was introduced.''Political Parties of the World'' (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, pages 376–377.

Justin Lekhanya General Justin Metsing Lekhanya (7 April 1938 – 20 January 2021) was the Minister of Defence and Chairman of the Military Council of Lesotho (head of government) from 24 January 1986 to 2 May 1991. Background Born in Thaba-Tseka in 1938, Lekha ...

, the leader of the 1986 coup, was elected as Party Leader of the BNP at its Conference in March 1999."Committee of Privileges Reports to Parliament; Opposition MP Bereng Sekhonyana Murdered"
, Summary of Events in Lesotho - 2nd Quarter 2006, trc.org.ls. In the 25 May 2002

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, the party won 21 compensatory seats through proportional representation with 22.4% of the vote. Since then, the party has been rocked by internal squabbles which have seen it fail to provide an effective opposition within the Lesotho parliament. In the 17 February 2007

, the party won only 3 out of 120 seats. Its headquarters is in Maseru, the capital city. The BNP was hostile to South Africa's intentions to incorporate Lesotho.It also provided an end to racial descrimination in Lesotho,the gradual Africanization of the civil service and business and a government which was answerable to Basotho.

Electoral Performance

References

Political parties established in 1959 Political parties in Lesotho 1959 establishments in Basutoland {{Lesotho-party-stub