Cape Town — As the counting of votes in Lesotho's elections entered its second day, the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) was in the lead but under strong challenge from the newly-formed All Basotho Convention (ABC).

With the results of 30 of the country's 80 constituencies declared, the LCD had taken 17 seats, the ABC 12 and the Alliance of Congress Parties one seat. It was too early to predict the final outcome, said Denis Kadima, executive director of the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa. Apart from the 80 members of parliament elected to represent constituencies, another 40 will be appointed under a proportional representation system.

Fourteen parties competed for the support of 916 000 registered voters in the kingdom of 2.3 million. The election was called early by King Letsie III at the request of prime minister Pakalitha Mosisili, after veteran politician Tom Thabane led 18 legislators out of the LDC to launch the ABC.

Voter turnout was lower than many had predicted, Kadima told allAfrica in an interview from Maseru. In most constituencies it ranged from 45 to 50 percent. However, the election process was "quite transparent", and whatever opposition emerged would be well-represented in parliament. He had earlier warned that given past experience, a landslide victory could spark a violent rejection of the result.

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