Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal (constitutional amendment, July 1997)
Executive branch: chief of state: King LETSIE III (since 7 February 1996, succeeded to the throne following the death of his father, King MOSHOESHOE II, on 16 January 1996); note-King LETSIE III formerly occupied the throne (November 1990 to February 1995) while his father was in exile head of government: Prime Minister Ntsu MOKHEHLE (since 2 April 1993) cabinet: Cabinet elections: none; the king is a hereditary monarch, but, under the terms of the constitution which came into effect after the March 1993 election, he has no executive or legislative powers; moreover, under traditional law the king can be elected or deposed by a majority vote of the College of Chiefs; following legislative elections, the leader of the party that wins the most seats usually becomes prime minister
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (33 members-22 principal chiefs and 11 other members appointed by the ruling party) and the Assembly (65 seats; members elected for a five-year term by popular vote) elections: last held 27 March 1993 (next to be held in May 1998) election results: percent of vote by party-NA; seats by party-BCP 65 note: due to a schism in the BCP, Prime Minister Ntsu MOKHEHLE formed the new Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD in June 1997, taking 42 seats away from the BCP, reducing it to 23 seats and the role of an opposition party
Judicial branch: High Court, Chief Justice appointed by the king;
Court of Appeal; Magistrate's Court; customary or traditional court
Political parties and leaders:
ruling party: Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD [Dr. Ntsu
MOKHEHLE, leader; Shakhane MOKHEHLE, secretary general]
opposition party: Basotho National Party or BNP [Evaristus
SEKHONYANA]; Basotholand Congress Party or BCP [Molapo QHOBELA]; Ha
Reeng ('Let's Go') Basotho Party or HBP [Khauta KHASU]; Lesotho Labor
Party or LLP [Mamolefi RANTHIMO]; Marematlou Freedom Party or MFP
[Vincent MALEBO]; National Progressive Party or NPP [Chief Peete
Nkoebe PEETE, leader]; Sefate Democratic Union or SDU [Bofihla
NKUEBE]; United Democratic Party or UDP [Charles MOFELI]
International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO,
G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFCTU, IFRCS, ILO, IMF,
Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM, OAU, SACU,
SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO,
WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Dr. Eunice M. BULANE chancery: 2511 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 797-5533 through 5536 FAX: [1] (202) 234-6815
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Bismarck MYRICK embassy: 254 Kingsway, Maseru West (Consular Section) mailing address: P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100, Lesotho telephone: [266] 312666 FAX: [266] 310116
Flag description: divided diagonally from the lower hoist side corner; the upper half is white, bearing the brown silhouette of a large shield with crossed spear and club; the lower half is a diagonal blue band with a green triangle in the corner
@Lesotho:Economy