In October 2022, Lesotho held a general election to elect Members of the National Assembly. Like in any other elections, political parties had to engage in and deal with some issues related to their participation in these elections. These included campaigning, the nomination of candidates, mobilisation of voters, compliance with electoral laws and regulations, election monitoring and engaging with other electoral stakeholders, particularly the Independent Electoral Commissions of Lesotho.
Democracy Works Foundation in Lesotho within the framework of the Southern Africa Political Parties and Dialogue (SAPP&D) Programme engaged with registered political parties in pre-election capacity development and knowledge-sharing in order to contribute to strengthening the capacities of political parties for their meaningful participation in elections and the electoral processes.
It is against this background that DWF has organised a one-day cross-party post-elections workshop that will be held on Tuesday, 4 April 2023, at Avani Maseru Hotel in Lesotho. The overall goal is for political parties and the selected stakeholders to identify and reflect on lessons and experiences that can be drawn from the political parties’ participation in the 2022 general elections, to inform and inspire areas of improvement and reforms for future elections.
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
The workshop will target 64 registered political parties that participated in the elections and other relevant electoral stakeholders to:
- Provide political parties with a platform through which they can reflect on how they prepared for and participated in the 2022 elections, identifying party-specific areas of improvement for future elections.
- Reflect on how political parties promoted the participation of women and young people in elections and electoral processes for the 2022 elections to identify areas for improvement or reforms.
- Provide political party assistance providers and implementers such as DWF with an opportunity to identify and reflect on lessons that can inform future programming in strengthening the capacities of political parties to participate in electoral processes meaningfully.
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About SAPP&D
Southern Africa Political Parties and Dialogue (SAPP&D) programme that DWF implements in Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia is made possible by funding from USAID. DWF’s mission is to provide tools to build resilient democracies that are sustainable and consensus-orientated in the southern African region.
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