The Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) is a royalistLadouceur, P. (1972). Voltaic Political Life - Genèse de la Haute-Volta. Albert Salfo Balima. Ouagadougou: Presses Africaines, . 253 pp. 750 CFA Frs. - Evolution de la Haute-Volta de 1898 au 3 janvier 1966. Francois Djoby Bassolet. Ouagadougou: Imprimerie Nationale, 1968. 135 PP. 15.40 FF. - Le redressement financier de la République de Haute-Volta. Tiemoko Marc Garango. Ouagadougou: Presses Africaines, 1971. 96 pp. 200 CFA Frs. - Connaissance de la Haute-Volta. Haute-Volta, Ministers Des Finances Et Du Commerce. Ouagadougou et Paris, 1970. 124 pp. 650 CFA Frs. African Studies Review, 15(3), 521-527. political party in Lesotho.
History The party was established in December 1962 by a merger of the Freedom Party and the Marema-Tlou Party (MTP).Scott Rosenberg, Richard F Weisfelder & Michell Frisbie-Fulton (2003) Historical Dictionary of Lesotho, Scarecrow Press, p. 222. Soon after its formation several members of the Basutoland Congress Party defected to the MFP.
When former MTP leader Seepheephe Matete was replaced as party president by Seth Makotoko he broke away to re-establish the MTP as a separate party.Rosenberg et al., p. 223. Both contested the 1965 general elections, with the MFP winning four seats with 16.5% of the vote and the MTP no seats with 2.2% of the vote.
In the 1970 general elections the party's vote share fell to 7%, resulting in it being reduced to a single seat.
When multi-party democracy was restored in the 1990s the party contested the 1993 elections, receiving 1.4% of the vote and failing to win a seat. It remained seatless after receiving 1.3% of the vote in the 1998 elections. Despite its vote share falling to 1.2% in the 2002 elections, the party won a seat due to the new proportional electoral system. It retained the single seat in the 2007, 2012 and 2015 elections.
Electoral Performance
Election Proportional Constituency Seats +/- Government Votes Share Votes Share 1965 40,414 15.70 colspan=2 New 1970 22,279 7.27 colspan=2 3 1985Did not contest colspan=2 1 1993 7,650 1.44 colspan=2 0 1998 7,546 1.27 colspan=2 0 2002 6,890 1.24 7,723 1.44 1 2007 9,129 2.06 5,106 1.19 0 2012 3,300 0.60 colspan=2 0 2015 3,413 0.60 colspan=2 0 2017 2,761 0.47 colspan=2 0 2022 1,764 0.34 colspan=2 1
References