Cape Town — Vote counting began soon after the closure of polling stations in Lesotho's elections on Saturday. But in some rural areas, voting hours were extended after ballot papers arrived late.

Denis Kadima, deputy leader of a delegation from the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, said in an interview from the Lesotho capital, Maseru, that the elections had gone "very well."

"The day went very peacefully and it was smooth," he said. In some rural areas ballot papers had not arrived by 2 pm but the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was allowing polling stations to remain open, until the early hours of Sunday if necessary. Fears of problems with the voters' roll proved exaggerated.

However, Kadima said preliminary figures indicated a low voter turnout, which was "puzzling." In the Maseru constituency at which he was watching the counting of votes, it was 55 percent, and he had received reports of percentage polls of as low as 30 percent.

These figures were in stark contrast with media reports which quoted the IEC as saying there had been a high voter turnout.