Johannesburg - Lesotho is staging early elections to restore order after a coup attempt, but there is concern that a rejection of the results by some parties could spark more violence, jeopardising hopes of improvement for the country's poor majority.
Lesothoans are set to hit the polls on Saturday amid fears that the early parliamentary elections aimed at restoring order following a coup attempt could plunge the southern African kingdom into yet more instability and violence.
Nearly five months after soldiers raided Prime Minister Tom Thabane's residence and police headquarters, tension is still running high in the capital Maseru, with a shoot-out between soldiers and the premier's bodyguards killing one person earlier this month.