National Independent Party

The National Independent Party (NIP; German as: "National Independent Party") is a party in Lesotho. It was in 2007 the second largest party in the parliamentary elections.

History

The NIP was established in 1985 ( according to other sources 1975) as a split from the ruling Basotho National Party alone (BNP ) from the teacher Anthony Clovis Manyeli ( 1913-2010 ) in Rome. Manyeli had previously been dismissed as Minister of Education. The party saw itself as a conservative alternative to the BNP and seeking contact with the apartheid government in South Africa. Since during the period of military dictatorship held no elections and political activity has long prohibited the NIP in the early 1990s did not occur from 1986 until the return to democracy in appearance.

In the parliamentary elections in 1993 and 1998, she won a few votes and no seats. After the riots in 1998, the NIP was given two seats in the transitional committee Interim Political Authority. A modified system of proportional representation was introduced in the sequence, so that the NIP in the 2002 elections for the first time received five of the 120 seats, thanks to about 30,000 votes, which corresponded to 5.5 percent of all votes. The then 89 -year-old party leader Manyeli led the surprisingly good result due to the fact that the party symbol of the NIP, a dove of many voters with the eagle symbol of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) had been mistaken. At the 2007 elections the NIP allied under its Deputy Chairman Dominic Motikoe with the LCD. Manyeli opposed this alliance, but lost in court, so that his name was removed from the candidate list. The NIP received over 50 percent of second votes, including many second votes of supporters of the LCD, which earned her the 21 40 by proportional representation seats to be filled. The LCD, which won 62 of the 80 constituencies, but was able to govern alone.

In the 2012 elections the NIP won only two seats on the proportional representation. They received around 6,880 votes, slightly more than one percent. The NIP supports the incumbent since 2012 coalition government, led by the All Basotho Convention. Chairman is Kimetso Mathaba (as of 2013).

Structure and policy

The NIP is of a chairman and a board ( National Executive Committee ) out, which is chosen by the Chairman. Annual meetings or party conventions do not take place. The number of members is several thousand. The emblem of the party is a dove. The membership fee is a Loti per year.

The NIP represents since its inception, especially the concerns of farmers and is minded Republican. The NIP has no relations with foreign foundations or parties.

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