Constituencies

67. Constituencies (1) For the purpose of elections to the National Assembly, Lesotho shall, in accordance with the provisions of this section, be divided into eighty constituencies having such boundaries as may be prescribed by order made by the Constituency Delimitation Commission. (2) All constituencies shall contain as nearly equal numbers of inhabitants of or above the' age of twenty-one years as appears to the Commission to be reasonably practicable, but the Commission may depart from this principle to such extent as it considers expedient in order to take account of - (a) the density of population, and in particular the need to ensure adequate representation of sparsely populated rural areas; (b) the means of communication; (c) geographical features; (d) community of interest; and (e) the boundaries of existing administrative areas: Page 42 Provided that the number of inhabitants, of or above the age of twenty-one years, of any constituency shall not exceed or fall short of the population quota by more than ten per cent. (3) The Commission shall review the boundaries of the constituencies into which Lesotho is divided in the case of any review after the review of boundaries referred to in Section 159(3), not less than eight nor more than ten years from the date of completing its last review, and may, by order, alter the boundaries in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it considers desirable in the light of the review: Provided that whenever a census of the population has been held in pursuance of any law the Commission may carry out such a review and make such an alteration to the extent which it considers desirable in consequence of that census. (4) Every order made by the Commission under this section shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into effect upon the next dissolution of Parliament after it was made. (5) For the purposes of this section the number of inhabitants of any part of Lesotho of or above the age of twenty-one years shall be ascertained by reference to the latest census of the population held in pursuance of any law: Provided that if the Commission considers, by reason of the passage of time since the holding of the latest census or otherwise, that it is desirable so to do it may instead or in addition have regard to any other available information which, in the opinion of the Commission, best indicates the number of those inhabitants. (6) in this section "the population quota" means the number obtained by dividing by eighty the number of the inhabitants of Lesotho of or above the age of twenty-one years.