The opposition Basotho National Party has won one seat in Lesotho's general election.

Partial results from Saturday's vote give the remaining 70 seats so far declared to the ruling Congress for Democracy party. There are 80 National Assembly seats in all.

Demonstrations

Thousands of opposition supporters staged demonstrations on Sunday in the capital, Maseru, in protest at what they say was vote-rigging.

The opposition said the elections were fraudulent, and called for a strike.

A demonstration planned for Monday has been postponed until Tuesday.

The chairman of Lesotho's electoral commission, Sekara Mafisa, denied the opposition claims, and overseas observers described the vote as acceptable to international standards.

Puleng Lenka: "That is an irregularity which also has an impact on the result of the poll"

Puleng Lenka, a voter coordination educator, told the BBC that whilst the casting of the ballots was acceptable, voters did not have enough to time to check if their names were on the electoral register.

The Congress for Democracy won every seat in the previous election in 1993, which followed a period of military rule.

In recent years there have been several revolts by the armed forces and a coup by the constitutional monarch, King Letsie III.

Lesotho's government went into the election still led by Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhele, who came to power in 1993.

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