Chapter three: Democracy and good political governance 62 ii. Findings of the CRM Political competition and opportunity for choice 182. The CRM found that the Lesotho political system allows free and fair competition for power. There is political will for democratisation and, overall, there is freedom of association, except in the case of civil servants, who are barred from joining trade unions or unionising. There were 19 political parties registered at the time of the 2007 elections, although only 14 chose to participate. There were 20 registered political parties in April 2009. 183. The stakeholders who were consulted did not complain of any restrictions on their freedom to elect whoever they chose. There are neither any obvious constraints on the formation and operation of political parties, nor restrictions on voters’ choices. The electoral system and political competition 184. The findings from the CRM stakeholder consultations reveal that there is general appreciation that the IEC and the MMP model worked well in 2002. However, manipulation of the MMP system by the big parties during and after the 2007 elections was seen to have undermined the electoral system. This notwithstanding, it is generally agreed that there were not any breaches of the law. 185. The independence of the IEC and the need to improve the MMP electoral model are the two most important issues that stakeholders raised. The CRM noted that concerted efforts are being made to draft legislation that will make the IEC more autonomous as a statutory body rather than a government department. The IEC is also consulting with all political parties represented on the IEC Law Committee to devise policies and procedures that will pre-empt postelectoral disagreements. Among the proposals are a prohibition on a candidate registering on more than one party list, the requirement that all candidates should stand on party lists (prohibition on independent candidature), the requirement that every party must contest a minimum of 10 seats to qualify for the PR compensatory seats, and a proposed legislative amendment to make it mandatory that election dates be decided on only after consultations between the government and the IEC. 186. The CRM heard quite favourable views of the MMP electoral system. The system was appreciated for having brought peace to the country, since it allowed the accommodation of the opposition. It was thus seen to have encouraged more inclusiveness and representativeness in the National Assembly. A comparative examination of the actual election results from 1993 to 2002 shows that there was indeed a broadening and diversification of representation in the National Assembly. Whereas the BCP won 74.7 per cent of the vote in 1993, it captured all the parliamentary seats. In 1998, the LCD won 60.7 per cent of the vote and 79 out of 80 seats, leaving the BNP, which had 24.5 per cent of the vote, with only one seat. Meanwhile, most of the smaller parties were allocated some seats when the MMP system was used for the first time in 2002. (Refer to table 3.2).