Some women in Swaziland are
too scared to stand as candidates in the national election because their
husbands would be angry with them.
This emerged during voter
education at KaGucuka organised by the Elections and Boundaries Commission. One
women, reported by local media, said most women of the area feared being
nominated for the elections because they would be questioned and even disowned
by their husbands.
The Swazi Observer on Monday (26 June 2017) reported a woman who did
not want to be named saying, ‘To be very honest, the reason why this small area
has never had a female nominee for elections is because we fear our husbands
who will question us on how we got nominated to stand for the elections in the
first place. We have heard that a successful nominee requires at least 10
people to nominate them to stand for the elections, unfortunately for us women
our husbands will get angry at us when we get nominated.’
King Mswati III rules Swaziland
as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Swaziland is due to hold its
national elections in 2018 but the King has yet to announce an exact date.
Political parties are banned from taking part in the election and the King’s
subjects are only allowed to pick 55 of the 65 members of the House of
Assembly; the other 10 are appointed by the King.
None of the 30 members of
the Swazi Senate are elected by the people; the King appoints 20 members and
the other 10 are appointed by the House of Assembly.
The King choses the Prime
Minister and cabinet members. Only a man with the surname Dlamini
can, by tradition, be appointed as Prime Minister. The
King is a Dlamini.
Women are underrepresented
in the Swazi parliament and there was only one woman elected as member of the
Swaziland House of Assembly at the last election in 2013. Other women were
later appointed to the Parliament, including at last two members of the Royal
Family. According to the Swazi Constitution women should make up 30 percent of
the total membership of Parliament.
At present an Election
of Women Members to the House of Assembly Bill of 2017 is being discussed in the kingdom. It aims
to put in place a process for electing women to Parliament.
See also
WIDOWS CAN STAND IN SWAZI ELECTION
WOMAN
IN PANTS BANNED FROM ELECTION
KING’S BOGUS CLAIM ON DEMOCRACY
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