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- The ruling means the two bills passed by the reconvened Parliament are illegal.
- The government plans to appeal the ruling made by the Constitutional Court.
- Lesotho could go to polls on 7 October without SADC road map set-out targets.
The Constitutional Court in Lesotho has ruled the state of emergency evoked in August as well as the reconvening of Parliament by King Letsie III were null and void.
This means two laws passed more than two weeks ago were done by a Parliament, "with no constitutional authority to debate and pass the two bills".
The bench ruled on these two matters that were brought separately by media activist Kananelo Boloetse who challenged the legality of the state of emergency and Law Society of Lesotho deputy president Lintle Tuke who argued King Letsie III had no legal mandate to reconvene Parliament.
The court decided to consolidate the two cases because of the same cause of action.
The court ruling now means the 11th amendment to the Constitution Bill 2022 and National Assembly Electoral Amendment Act - two laws deemed critical ahead of the 7 October general elections should not stand.
Both laws were part of the electoral reforms that have been pushed for by SADC and the international community, the European Union in particular.
READ | Why Lesotho's Law Society is challenging the constitutionality of laws passed by Parliament
The chief justice of Lesotho, Sakoane Sakoane, as well as judges Tšeliso Monapathi and Mafelile Ralebese presided over the case.
Sources told News24 the government intended to appeal the ruling.
Lesotho is set to hold general elections on 7 October.
As part of SADC's road map, the two critical laws were set to be passed by the country's 10th Parliament but failed to pass them during its regular sitting, which ended on 14 July.
Hence the only possible way around it was for Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro to call for a state of emergency that gave the king powers to reconvene Parliament for a week in which the two laws were passed.
However, should an appeal by the government fall flat, the country will go to elections without the two laws.
Lesotho was under pressure from the donor community and SADC to implement electoral reforms and failure to do so could result in aid being cut to the country.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
