Parliamentary Election in Lesotho

       The majority of presidential systems in the world are concentrated in the Western Hemisphere. That is why citizens who live in the Americas are not likely to be familiar with parliamentary systems, such as Lesotho’s. Additionally, being aware of what is happening in the politics of other continents can turn out to be difficult due to the lack of access to information and geographical distance as well as other reasons. To illustrate, many people even do not associate “Lesotho” with the little country that is in Africa, and is surrounded by South Africa. Moreover, when it comes to Lesotho’s political issues, one should know that two main events took place in 2014: Prime Minister Thabane accused the military of trying to overthrow him, and then, early elections were scheduled for Saturday, February 28th, 2015 to resolve tensions after the attempted coup (BBC News Africa , 2015).

       Having pointed out the political context that Lesotho is undergoing at the beginning of this year, it is especially important to explain this electoral scenario through the three following aspects: a brief description of Lesotho’s electoral system, one of the most significant social issues that Lesotho is experiencing at this time, and the primary contenders who are participating in this election in particular.

       Firstly, there are some political science concepts that one should take into account concerning this election analysis. For instance, in order to understand the Lesotho’s electoral system it is important to consider that this African country, as mentioned above, has a parliamentary system, which is a type of democracy in which the government -the head of state- depends on a legislative majority for its survival. Also, when talking about a general election occurring in Lesotho, where there is a considerable possibility of a coalition government, this document is making reference to a national election in which all seats in the legislature are contested. Besides that, it is likely that a government is formed by two or more parties that collectively hold legislative majority. Furthermore, Lesotho has both First-Past-The-Post and Proportional Representation. This is, “eighty seats will be allocated based on constituency votes (one candidate for each constituency) and forty seats will be allocated to reflect the share of the national vote” (BBC News Africa , 2015).

    Secondly, the most notorious issue under debate in this specific election is undoubtedly the fears of post-election violence. Throughout history elections have often been followed by violence and instability in Lesotho. In this case, in particular, one can consider that because of the fact that none of the parties is likely to get enough votes to govern alone, violent unrest can show up. That is why another important character, the army, “has promised to keep soldiers in the barracks on polling day to allay fears of violence, but questions remain as to what will happen after the publication of results” (SAPA, 2015).

       Finally, the third aspect is the political players and the interest groups involved in the election. On one hand, it is essential to say that even though there are 23 political parties competing for this parliamentary election, only three of those organizations are recognized as possible winners: Mr. Thabane's All Basotho Convention (ABC), Mr. Metsing's Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), and Mr. Mosisili's Democratic Congress (DC) (BBC News Africa , 2015). On the other hand, there are certain political figures who are playing a crucial role individually. For instance, South Africa's deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa has been in charge of mediating among the political parties following an attempted coup last year. The United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has been supervising the preview of these elections in Lesotho as well (Oderson, 2015).

       To conclude, after having checked briefly what is happening currently in the political arena in Lesotho, it is notable how the existence of a coup d’etat (the use of force to remove a sitting government and replace it with another one outside the parameters of the law) might attract the participation of other political players, not only in the national level, as in the case of armies, but also in the international community, as in the case of the United Nations. Even more important, these interesting events (coups d'etat) might trigger other political processes, such as early elections, in order for a certain country to recover its political stability.

The Slovakian Referendum

       Among all the countries that belong to the European Union, the Slovak Republic is one of the few territories whose constitution still restricts some civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups. Consequently, a referendum has been scheduled by the Slovakian President Andrej Kisha in order to decide if the rights mentioned above should be yielded or not (Janicek, 2015). In this sense, it is crucial to analyze this political phenomenon through three fundamental aspects: what a referendum theoretically is, a brief description of what the social issue of same-sex marriage is, and the primary contenders involved in the political scenario.

       First of all, in terms of political concepts, one should know that the word “referendum” means a policy proposal drafted by electoral officials and put to a vote by the electorate. Second of all, it is important to recall that the major issue exposed in this brief analysis is the recognition or not of the same-sex partnership in Slovakia. Because of this, the reading of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic is crucial. For instance, according to this document, marriage is defined exclusively as a union between a man and a woman (The National Council of the Slovak Republic, 1992). As a result, it brings many other effects concerning civil rights for same-sex couples. That is why the referendum that is going to take place on Saturday, February 7th will ask voters three questions: Do you agree that only a bond between one man and one woman can be called marriage? Do you agree that same-sex couples or groups should not be allowed to adopt and raise children? Do you agree that schools cannot require children to participate in education pertaining to sexual behavior or euthanasia if their parents don’t agree? (The Economist, 2015).

       Finally, the third aspect in regard to this analysis is the political players and the interest groups that are lobbying before the referendum occurs. On the one side, there are Slovakia's anti-gay activists, who are represented basically by the Catholic Church, the Alliance for Family (ARZ), and over 100 more organizations. Under the current circumstances, one can take into consideration that the Catholic Church is the most influential player due to the fact that 63% of Slovaks consider themselves members of the Church; therefore, there is an enormous opportunity to mobilize voters to restrict the family rights of the LGBT community. On the other side, there are human rights activists who are encouraging people not to vote at all, because the “turnout in the ballot must be more than 50 percent” (Janicek, 2015). To illustrate, one of Amnesty International’s researchers on Slovakia, Barbora Cernusakova, said, “This referendum could lead to a significant step back for Slovakia. If the public says yes to these questions and they’re adopted into law, Slovakia bolsters homophobic discrimination and undermines sexuality education.” In addition, she said that this ban on same-sex adoption of children might violate the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

      In conclusion, it goes without saying that both the electoral system and the referendum topic itself play very meaningful roles in the Slovakian politics currently. Undoubtedly, these kinds of electoral processes bring a great impact on the social life regarding democratic aspects, civil rights, and so forth.