We targeting
MBABANE
“We are targeting not less than 100 per cent of eligible voters this time around.”
This was exactly what the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) Communications Officer, Mbonisi Bhembe said yesterday, when he spoke to Eswatini News, after he was asked if they would be able to reach the 650 000 voter registration mark in this year’s national elections.
Eswatini, just like other countries in the African continent, is having the national elections whereby the electorate would exercise their constitutional right by registering and voting for their candidates for the positions of bucopho, indvuna yenkhundla and Member of Parliament (MP) in the 59 constituencies, located in the four regions of the country.
On May 10 this year, the electorate started visiting polls as the registration process began.
Already, there are over 200 000 eligible voters who have already registered in the available polling centres, countrywide and EBC is advising emaSwati not to delay but register in time so to avoid long queues, which might cause a stampede in the last days of the registration process.
“It is simple, you just bring your identification card (ID) and it will take you less than two minutes to complete the process with the friendly EBC officials,” explained Bhembe.
After completing the registration, the voter then receives an SMS, which he or she would use during the casting of votes process. The elections are expected to run until September 29, which would be the last day of the secondary elections.
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The voter registration is expected to end on June 14 according to the calendar which was announced by EBC’s Chairperson, Prince Mhlabuhlangene.
“According to the national statistics we believe an estimated number of eligible voters is above 650 000 currently as Eswatini has an estimated 1.2 million population. Once again I would like to point out that we are not setting ourselves for failure this year as a commission, but are keen on assisting every citizen to exercise his/her right democratically,” pointed out Bhembe.
Further, the EBC’s communications officer said the voter registration will be followed by the voter validation process.
“It is in this period whereby the entire electorate in the country of Eswatini will have the opportunity to put a stamp to ascertain if there are discrepancies in the voter’s role. Once again this is another way for the commission to allow the electorate to exercise their democratic right under the Tinkhundla System of Government.
Meanwhile, the communications officer then advised the entire electorate that it was not about the numbers in this year’s national elections, but about the quality of the candidates who would be voting and voted for.
“The entire process of the elections is transparent as the electorate