Pakalitha mosisili biography of donald
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Lesotho: Voting under way in third election since 2012
Voters in the small southern African kingdom of Lesotho are heading to the polls to elect a new government in the third general election since 2012.
Saturday’s poll is seen as a two-horse race between old rivals Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili and Thomas Thabane, who ruled from 2012 to 2015.
The winner is set to emerge from post-vote negotiations, yet analysts expect the election to lead to another fractious coalition government and the risk of instability in a country where years of political infighting have undermined attempts to tackle high poverty and unemployment rates.
Voting opened at 7am (05:00 GMT) and closes at 5pm (15:00 GMT), with counting expected to take several days. According to the electoral commission, 1.2 million people have registered to vote.
Long queues formed outside polling stations from early morning despite the winter chill.
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Tired of frequent elections, voters are ultimately s
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NALANE EA PAKALITHA BETHUEL MOSISILI
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Lesotho's PM Pakalitha Mosisili deserts political party
Mr Mosisili remains prime minister and becomes the deputy head of the newly formed Democratic Congress.
Observers say the LCD party, which now becomes the main opposition, may be reduced to a shell ahead of general elections due in May.
"For the past two years I have tried every effort to rädda LCD from falling apart, but all in vain," Mr Mosisili said.
He said that he would not sack ministers who had not defected with him, saying "it is up to their conscience to resign or remain in cabinet".
Mr Mosisili first became prime minister in 1998.
In 2009, he survived unhurt an apparent assassination attempt in the capital, Maseru, after several gunmen opened fire on the his official residence.
Lesotho - a former British protectorate - has one of the world's highest rates of HIV/Aids infection.
The country fryst vatten heavily dependent on South Africa, where over the decades thousands of Basotho have worke