Marematlou Freedom Party

The Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) is a royalist^[2] political party in Lesotho.

Marematlou Freedom Party
Leader	Moeketse Malebo
Founded	1962 (1962)
Ideology	Conservatism Royalism[1]
National Assembly	0 / 120
Politics of Lesotho Political parties Elections

History

The party was established in December 1962 by a merger of the Freedom Party and the Marema-Tlou Party (MTP).^[3] Soon after its formation several members of the Basutoland Congress Party defected to the MFP.^[3]

When former MTP leader Seepheephe Matete was replaced as party president by Seth Makotoko he broke away to re-establish the MTP as a separate party.^[4] Both contested the 1965 general elections, with the MFP winning four seats with 16.5% of the vote and the MTP no seats with 2.2% of the vote.

In the 1970 general elections the party's vote share fell to 7%, resulting in it being reduced to a single seat.

When multi-party democracy was restored in the 1990s the party contested the 1993 elections, receiving 1.4% of the vote and failing to win a seat. It remained seatless after receiving 1.3% of the vote in the 1998 elections. Despite its vote share falling to 1.2% in the 2002 elections, the party won a seat due to the new proportional electoral system. It retained the single seat in the 2007, 2012 and 2015 elections.

Electoral Performance

Election	Proportional		Constituency		Seats	+/-	Government
	Votes	Share	Votes	Share
1965	40,414	15.70	—		4 / 60	New	Opposition
1970	22,279	7.27	—		1 / 60	3	BNP coup d'état
1985	Did not contest		—		0 / 60	1	Extra-parliamentary
1993	7,650	1.44	—		0 / 65	0	Extra-parliamentary
1998	7,546	1.27	—		0 / 89	0	Extra-parliamentary
2002	6,890	1.24	7,723	1.44	1 / 120	1	Opposition
2007	9,129	2.06	5,106	1.19	1 / 120	0	Opposition
2012	3,300	0.60	—		1 / 120	0	Coalition
2015	3,413	0.60	—		1 / 120	0	Opposition
2017	2,761	0.47	—		1 / 120	0	Opposition
2022	1,764	0.34	—		0 / 120	1	Extra-parliamentary