Lesotho has new leader

Lesotho Prime Minister Tom Thabane has effectively been booted out of power after opposition parties formed a coalition.

The move means Democratic Congress party leader and former prime minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, will take office.

The coalition has been formed by the Democratic Congress as well as Lesotho Congress for Democracy.

The latter is led by Mothetjoa Metsing, who will become deputy prime minister of the new government. Four other parties will form part of the coalition.

The move comes four days after the country went to the polls early.

The early election was negotiated by South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa after a failed coup attempt in Lesotho.

But while the poll has been declared free and fair, Ramaphosa's involvement has been criticised.

"It's not just about holding elections. It should have been about resolving the political crisis, which saw people dying," said Tsikoane Peshoane, democracy education specialist at Lesotho's Transformation Resource Centre.

"Ramaphosa's role should not have been as [a] facilitator, but as [a] mediator. What Lesotho needed was mediation."

The elections were brought forward by two years after the political crisis erupted in June when Thabane, leader of the All Basotho Convention, dissolved parliament.

This was ahead of a vote of no-confidence in him after he called for investigation into Metsing, his deputy, for corruption.

Lesotho's 120 parliamentary seats are allocated using an electoral system in which 80 seats are decided by constituency votes and 40 seats are calculated proportionally.

The new coalition has a majority of 61 seats, taking the proportional result into account.

The Democratic Congress won 37 constituencies, while Thabane's All Basotho Convention won 40.

But the electoral commission has not yet announced the final result.

On Tuesday SADC electoral observer commission head Maite Nokoana-Mashabane declared the elections free and fair.

She said it was up to the Basotho to resolve their political differences.

Peshoane said the smaller parties are the kingmakers - they will seat or unseat the government.