Polls open in Lesotho's highly contested elections

Record ID: 878037

  • Title: Polls open in Lesotho's highly contested elections
  • Date: 3rd June 2017
  • Summary: MAKHOAKHOENG, MASERU, LESOTHO (JUNE 3, 2017) (REUTERS) PEOPLE QUEUING AT VOTING STATION IN MAKHOAKHOENG MORE OF PEOPLE QUEUING OUTSIDE STATION VARIOUS OF PEOPLE QUEUING OLD MAN QUEUING AND HOLDING HIS ID CARD OLD MAN BEING SHOWN THE BALLOT PAPER BY ELECTIONS OFFICIALS BALLOT PAPER OLD MAN CASTING HIS VOTE VOTERS BEING SCREENED AND CHECKED INSIDE THE VOTING STATION ID DOCUMENT BEING CHECKED NEXT TO A BALLOT PAPER MAN PLACING HIS VOTE IN BALLOT BOX VOTER BEING MARKED WITH INK ON FINGER MAN CASTING HIS VOTE AND WALKING OUT OF THE VOTING STATION MORE OF BALLOT PAPERS AND ID CHECKING MAN IN BLANKET CASTING VOTE AND WALKING OUT OF THE VOTING STATION PEOPLE VOTING AND WORKING VOTING STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Sesotho) KATHLEHO TSHAI, SAYING: "I feel very happy now that I have voted." YOUNG LADY IN A BLANKET QUEUING (SOUNDBITE) (Sesotho) PETER JONAS, SAYING: "Voting is very important, my feeling is that I'm very happy, because I'm going to elect my party that I love a lot, the one that I believe will do what I want, because when we have a look, we are growing and we need people that will listen to us when we speak to them." MORE OF VOTERS QUEUING
  • Embargoed: 17th June 2017 08:52
  • Keywords: South Africa prime minister ballot Makhoakhoeng polls voting elections
  • Location: MASERU, LESOTHO
  • City: MASERU, LESOTHO
  • Country: Lesotho
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016JQ2K3R
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Voters in Lesotho braved the winter cold to cast their ballots as the mountainous kingdom held a general election on Saturday (June 3), only two years after the previous general election.
    The landlocked country, surrounded by South Africa, has had King Letsie III as head of state since 1996, but political leadership has been volatile in recent years with the last two elections failing to produce a winner with a clear majority.
    Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili who has been in power since 2015, lost a confidence vote in parliament in March after several defections.
    Mosisili's main rival, All Basotho Convention head Thomas Thabane, governed from 2012 until 2015. Thabane cast his ballot mid-morning at the Makhoakhoeng polling station in the capital Maseru.
    The small nation of 2 million people has been hit by several coups since independence from Britain in 1966, and voting commenced with an army presence on Saturday.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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