The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Reforms Technical Committee, Ms. Moipone Piet presented the Parliamentary Reforms Technical Committee report during the 7^th National Reforms Authority special meeting on Friday.
In this meeting, Ms. Piet said after undertaking a literature review and research on the country’s best voting systems or electoral models, the committee resolved that the Mixed Member Proposition Representative (MMP) is the preferred model in Lesotho as it represents the overall proportion of votes received.
She mentioned that there are two defining factors that MMP use to ensure equal proportion, noting that the first allows each voter to cast two votes, one for the popular vote and the second for their favourite party. She stated that the committee find it fitting for NRA to recommend an amendment of the   National Assembly Electoral Act of 2011, in order to operationalise section 57 of the constitution of Lesotho.
Further giving an account of MMP, the Chairperson said the country is currently using this model, which allows voters to get two votes or ballots for their representatives in Parliament, saying one vote elects the representative for a single-seat constituency and the other for a political party. “Therefore, the zebra system should be retained in order to encourage gender equality in politics.” She stressed.
Ms. Piet also talked about the submission of party lists, noting that the committee wishes that submissions be made and forwarded to Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) prior to elections, adding that lists should not be drawn in relation to performance under the two ballot system. This she said is meant to encourage parties to democratise propositional representative lists through a transparent process of primary elections.
Moreover, the Chairperson noted that section 70(5)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the National Assembly Electoral Act No.14 of 2011 should be repealed and make new provisions to address the proposed reforms.
In relation to the political funding campaign, the committee has recommended the funding from the Consolidated Fund to be distributed as follows: 20 0percent be equally distributed amongst the political parties registered with IEC to contest the elections while the remaining 80 percent be distributed to political parties proportionately to the number of constituencies they are intending to contest in the general elections.
The other recommendation on funding relates to the foreign multinational companies and foreigners should be prohibited from funding political parties in the country, to avoid a repeat of allocations of national resources to foreigners through questioning means. She urged NRA members to support and critique these findings in an attempt to build Lesotho we all want.
By Staff Reporter: Noliwe Velaphe