The surprise winner of the Lesotho parliamentary elections, millionaire Sam Matekane, 64, who made his fortune in diamond mining, will form a coalition government, he announced Tuesday at a press conference.
His Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) movement, which was formed just six months before last week’s election, won 56 of 120 seats, missing out on an absolute majority by just a few seats, the electoral commission announced the day before.
The constitutional monarchy, which is totally landlocked in South Africa, has been ruled since 2012 by coalition governments, made unstable by frequent party changes and splits.
On Tuesday, Sam Matekane announced he would form his coalition with the Alliance of Democrats (AD) and the Movement for Economic Change (MEC), which won six and five seats respectively.
“We inform the Basotho nation that we have agreed to form a new coalition government,” he said at the press briefing at a hotel in the capital Maseru, alongside the leaders of the other two parties.
The outgoing parliament failed to pass a law aimed at strengthening political stability by prohibiting members of parliament from switching political allegiance during their first three years in office.
Mtakane promises that in his first 100 days in office he will push forward this and other reforms that could address Lesotho’s chronic instability.
Matekane, considered the richest man in the country, which is one of the poorest in the world, also promised during his campaign to revive the economy and deal with public debt.