The figure comes even though all debate on
democratising the kingdom is ruthlessly
crushed by King Mswati’s state police and security forces. Meetings
called to discuss democratic change are routinely disrupted by police and prodemocracy
activists are jailed.
No news media in Swaziland support political
parties.
In Swaziland, political parties are banned from
taking part in elections. Groups that support democracy are banned under the
Suppression of Terrorism Act. The King chooses the Prime Minister and
Government. No members of the Swazi Senate House are elected by the people.
The people are allowed to elect 55 members of the 65-strong
House of Assembly but the other 10 are chosen by the King.
Afrobarometer
reported on Thursday (29 October 2015) that in Swaziland 36 percent of people
questioned agreed with the statement, ‘The Swazi Constitution should be amended
to allow for the existence of political parties in our country.’
A total of 58 percent agreed with the statement, ‘The
constitutional ban on political parties has served our country well and should therefore
be maintained.’
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