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“I have no problem with forming a new coalition, but the bigger question is, what about the existing coalition?” Motanyane asked after reading the letter to parliament on Friday.
“It will be premature for parliament to discuss this issue in the absence of this clarity,” Motanyane said, adding that parliament will only be allowed to debate once the questions have been answered.
After Motanyane’s speech, ten of the 12 parts of Lesotho told reporters that they expected the speaker to make a decision on the matter on Monday.
“We have more than enough parliamentary seats to form a new government and we will modify our letter to indicate that the current coalition agreement has ended,” said ABC President Sam Rapapa.
Lesotho legislation requires parties to enlist the support of 61 parliamentarians to form a government.
The ten parties already have 78 parliamentary seats between them.
Rapapa said that ABC had written another letter to Motanyane explaining that the current coalition had been terminated by the party’s withdrawal.
DC Deputy Director Motlalentoa Letsosa told AFP that he expected Motanyane to read the amended letter on Monday and “make a final decision on the formation of a new government” that day.
If the parliament does not decide in their favor, Letsosa said that they would “still continue and form a new government because we (they) require parliamentary seats.”
Thabane and his previous wife, Lipolelo Thabane, 58, were suffering from a bitter divorce when she was shot to death outside her home in capital Maseru just two days before her husband’s inauguration in June 2017.
Since then, police have found Thabane’s mobile phone number in crime scene communications records, prompting his rivals within ABC to demand his immediate resignation.
Thabane angered his rivals by repeating his intention to retire at the end of July this year on “old age” grounds.
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