The Basutoland Congress Party is a pan-Africanist and left-wing political party in Lesotho.
The Basutoland African Congress (BAC) was founded in 1952 by Ntsu Mokhehle and Potlako Leballo. The party was renamed the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) in 1957 and retained this name after independence in 1966, stating that Lesotho was not truly independent. Leballo left the party in 1959 to form the Pan Africanist Congress of South Africa (PAC).
The Basotho National Party is a political party in Lesotho, founded in 1959 in colonial Basutoland as the Basutoland National Party by Leabua Jonathan. He was Prime Minister from the 1965 general election until the 1986 coup d'état.
In the 1993 general election, the BNP received almost 23% of the vote but did not win any seats in the National Assembly, with all 65 seats going to the party's rival, the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP). It suffered a similar defeat in the 1998 general election, in which it won 24.5% of the vote but only one seat in the National Assembly. Due to its lack of success in winning constituencies, the party sought the introduction of proportional representation in deciding the allocation of seats; as a compromise, a mixed system providing for 40 compensatory seats that would be decided through proportional representation (in addition to the 80 constituency seats) was introduced.
General elections were held in Lesotho between 27 and 29 March 1993, the first full elections since the ruling Basotho National Party annulled the results of the 1970 elections, which they had lost to the Basutoland Congress Party. Of the 736,930 registered voters, 532,678 cast valid votes.
The BCP were victorious in the election, winning all 65 of the seats in the National Assembly. Its leader, Ntsu Mokhehle, became Prime Minister.
General elections were held in Lesotho on 24 May 1998, except in the Moyeni constituency, where voting was postponed until 1 August due to the death of one of the candidates. The result was a comprehensive victory for the new Lesotho Congress for Democracy, which claimed 79 of the 80 seats. The party was formed by a breakaway from the Basutoland Congress Party, which had won the 1993 elections.
Of the 1,017,753 registered voters, there were 593,955 valid votes.