ESwatini holds ‘sham vote’
OPPOSITION: ELECTION IS ‘FIXED’, PARLIAMENT HAS NO POWER IN ‘MOCKERY OF DEMOCRACY’
About 540 000 voters must choose from candidates who have no party affiliation.
Political parties cannot be involved, there are no campaign rallies and the king wields absolute power, choosing the prime minister and Cabinet: a parliamentary election in eSwatini is a vote like no other.
Opposition activists in the tiny southern African country formerly known as Swaziland say tomorrow’s election is a mockery of democracy and reveals how its 1.4 million citizens have lived under a repressive regime.
About 540 000 eligible voters must choose from candidates who have no party affiliation and who are almost all loyal to King Mswati III, one of the world’s last absolute monarchs.
Winners from the 59 constituency ballots take seats in a parliament over which the king has complete control. He also appoints a further 10 directly.
Alvit Dlamini, head of Ngwane National Liberatory Congress, the oldest political party in eSwatini, said: “It is a total misnomer to even call them elections.
“Elections are a competitive process between political parties. This is a nonelection – an appointment system by the royalists.
“If you participate, you can’t advance your own political ideas.”
But the king’s government is a fierce defender of the unique approach. It says that constituencies are at the heart of Swazi life and provide a direct link between voters and those elected.
It describes the system as a “homegrown” reflection of traditional society.
The constitution enshrines “individual merit” as the basis for election, meaning that political parties – which were banned by the king’s father in 1973 – are deemed unnecessary.
Parties are now allowed to exist under the 2005 constitution, but have suffered repeated security crackdowns as well as court defeats in their battle for legal recognition and to be allowed to take part in elections.
Such restrictions anger many young Swazis, including supporters of Pudemo, a party that was designated a terrorist organisation in 2008 under draconian new laws widely seen as targeting government critics.
“The election is fixed and parliament has no power. It is all with the king,” Pudemo’s new leader, Mlungisi Makhanya, 40, said.
Nearly 20 members of Pudemo remain on bail after being charged with terrorism offences between 2009 and 2014.
King Mswati, who has 14 wives and more than 25 children, has shown few signs of reforming what he calls the country’s “monarchical democracy”.
On the throne since the age of 18, this year he celebrates both his 50th birthday and 50 years since his country’s independence from Britain. The king retains widespread support in rural eSwatini. – AFP