Reproduced above is a letter sent by the Commonwealth Expert Team that observed the last elections in Swaziland in 2003.The letter (to the Commonwealth General Secretary) states in part,
‘we do not regard the credibility of these National elections as an issue: no elections can be credible when they are for a Parliament which does not have power and when political parties are banned’.
I got the letter out of the archives because this week we see the end of voter registration for the forthcoming national election in Swaziland. The Swazi Parliament has been disbanded and (we assume) a date for polling day will be announced soon.
In the past few weeks every newspaper in Swaziland has made its position clear on the elections. All papers have written editorial comments (stating the position of the newspaper) urging that Swazis should go out and vote. They all oppose the small group of ‘progressives’ in the kingdom that is urging a boycott of the elections.
The boycotters say (more or less) that the forthcoming poll has no value because people are being asked to vote for a parliament that has no powers and there is no democracy in Swaziland because political parties are banned.
So here is my question to the newspaper editorial writers: what do they believe has changed in Swaziland since the Commonwealth Expert Team wrote its letter in 2004?
Why do you believe that the 2008 election is credible?
Still on the elections, there was a powerful image on state-controlled Swazi TV news on Friday (27 June 2008). King Mswati III had summoned parliamentarians to one of his many palaces to mark the dissolution of parliament.
The prime minister, his cabinet ministers and MPs, were on their rear ends or knees in front of the king, while he sat on an ornate chair.
Then one by one, the parliamentarians were allowed three minutes to express their gratitude to the king.
Could you imagine British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his cabinet ministers doing something similar with Queen Elizabeth II?
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