THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO COMBINED SECOND TO EIGHTH PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS AND INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA Legislative Measures 386. In order to ensure women’s participation in politics and their representation in parliament, the National Assembly Elections Act was amended to require that for purposes of the Proportional Representation seats, all political parties have to submit before the election day, a list of candidates, in an order mixed by gender which has been termed ‘zebra list’ to represent the political party when PR seats are allocated. Women in parliament 387. As indicated in part A of this report, Lesotho has had about 10 National Assembly Elections and two Local Government Elections. 388. Following the 2012 National Assembly Elections women constituted 28 percent of the 8th Parliament. According to UNDP, “The proportion of men elected under the FPTP component remains disproportionately high, thus resulting in 26 percent overall representation of women in the National Assembly, a decrease from 2007.” 389. In the 2015 National Assembly Elections, out of the 1,117 candidates, 780 were men while 337 were women. Women Constituted 25 percent of Members of Parliament in that there were 30 women out of the 120 seats in the National Assembly (9th Parliament). 390. Of the 80 constituencies around the country only 9 of them (i.e. 11 percent) elected women, against 71 constituencies (89 percent) that elected men. The other 18 women went to parliament through the zebra listing of the proportional representation policy and they make 40 percent of the 40 PR seats. 391. Following the 2017 snap elections, women’s representation in the National Assembly (10th Parliament) dropped to 23 percent. Women currently hold 27 out of 120 seats as opposed to 2015 when the number was 30. 392. President of the upper house of parliament (Senate) female. 137