Lesotho office held by head of government Prime Minister of Lesotho
Politics
The Lesotho Government is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The Prime Minister, Sam Matekane, is the head of government and has executive authority. The King of Lesotho, Letsie III, is the head of state and serves a "largely ceremonial function"; he no longer possesses any executive authority and is prohibited from actively participating in political initiatives.
The All Basotho Convention (ABC) leads a coalition government in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. The upper house of parliament, the Senate, is composed of 22 principal chiefs whose membership is hereditary, and 11 appointees of the king, acting on the advice of the prime minister.
The constitution provides for an independent judicial system, made up of the High Court, the Court of Appeal, Magistrate's Courts, and traditional courts that exist predominantly in rural areas. All but one of the Justices on the Court of Appeal are South African jurists. There is no trial by jury; rather, judges make rulings alone or, in the case of criminal trials, with two other judges as observers.
The constitution protects some civil liberties, including freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of religion. Lesotho was ranked 12th out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries in the 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance.As of 2010, the People's Charter Movement called for the practical annexation of the country by South Africa due to the HIV epidemic. Nearly a quarter of the population tests positive for HIV. The country has faced unemployment, economic collapse, a weaker currency, and travel documents restricting movement. An African Union report called for economic integration of Lesotho with South Africa and stopped short of suggesting annexation. In May 2010 the Charter Movement delivered a petition to the South African High Commission requesting integration. South Africa's home affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa rejected the idea that Lesotho should be treated as a special case. "It is a sovereign country like South Africa. We sent envoys to our neighbours – Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho – before we enforced the passport rule. When you travel from Britain to South Africa, don't you expect to use a passport?"Some believe that annexation or redrawing the Lesotho borders would be beneficial. At the peak of the AIDS epidemic, over 30,000 Lesotho residents signed a petition for the country to be annexed to prevent life expectancy from falling to 34 years old. Scholars of comparative politics, like in Jeffrey Herbst's "War and the State of Africa," argue that the lack of border disputes for countries like Lesotho and Eswatini has kept the countries weak politically. This weakness stems from the remnants of colonialism in the current government, which has influences from English and Roman-Dutch Common Law. As a result, the current form of government was not made to serve the Basotho people but rather to be exploitative. 
After prime minister Tom Thabane resigned due to impeachment threats and a warrant of arrest for his wife in 2020, the South African finance minister suggested a confederation between Lesotho, Eswatini, and South Africa as a solution. His successor, Moeketsi Majoro, held office from 2020 to 2022 until he similarly resigned after a vote of "no-confidence" in Parliament for misconduct with the military and improperly handling COVID-19. While the current prime minister Sam Matekane is working with the South African Development Community (SADC) for legal reform, his administration still shows signs of corruption as 40,000 garment workers protested for better conditions and faced excessive force that killed two protestors.Foreign relations
Lesotho is a member of some regional economic organisations, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). It is active in the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth, and other international organisations.Lesotho has maintained ties with the United Kingdom (Wales in particular), Germany, the United States and other Western states. It broke relations with China and re-established relations with Taiwan in 1990, and later restored ties with China. It recognises the State of Palestine. From 2014 up until 2018 it recognised the Republic of Kosovo.It was a public opponent of apartheid in South Africa and granted a number of South African refugees political asylum during the apartheid era. In 2019, it signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Head of Government Position Chief Minister of State Prime Ministership Chief of Executive State Premier