On Saturday 28 February, the people of Lesotho will head to the polls. The national election is being held two years earlier than originally planned - sadly not because citizens of the mountain kingdom are so eager to exercise their democratic privileges, but because their democracy is failing and urgently needs a fresh start.
Tensions that had been simmering within the ruling coalition exploded into the open in August last year, when a component of the army - under renegade Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli - forcibly occupied police stations in Maseru, killing one policeman in the process. Fearing a coup, and for his own life, Prime Minister Thomas Thabane fled across the border into South Africa. Kamoli is now in exile as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) deal, along with his would-be successor and the police chief.
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