Source: SABC
The ninth parliament of Lesotho has elected Ntlhoi Motsamai as Speaker of the National Assembly.
66 of the 119 members voted for Motsamai in a special sitting summoned by King Letsie III to elect the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
The House has now been adjourned indefinitely and the Speaker is expected to start the process for the inauguration of the Prime Minister next Tuesday.
Twenty three parties took part in the February 28 election that was contested by more than 1000 candidates to elect the 120 members of the National Assembly.
They were summoned by the King to a special sitting where they took part in electing the Speaker in a secret ballot.
Newly elected Lesotho National Speaker, Ntlhoi Motsamai.(SABC)
They elected Nthloi Motsamai of the Democratic Congress, which has 47 seats and 66 of the 119 members that voted supported her. This was one member more than the expected 65 that form the coalition of 7 parties.
Her immediate task was to preside over the election of the deputy Speaker.
The House elected Montsuoe Lethoba, a member of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy that has 12 seats, making it the second-largest party of the parties forming a coalition.
From there all the other 118 members of the National Assembly were sworn-in, including the outgoing Prime Minister and the former and now incoming Prime Minister, Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili.
With the business of the day done, the House was adjourned indefinitely.
From here the Speaker takes over the process of communicating on behalf of parliament, with the office of the King to prepare for the inauguration of the Prime Minister next Tuesday.