Police in Swaziland are
investigating possible election corruption as voter registration enters its
second week.
A former government
minister has been accused of bribing people with promises of food parcels for
their votes.
The Swazi Observer reported
on Monday (21 May 2018) that the man who it did not name and his brother had
been offering free meals and transporting people to registration points in the Hhohho
region. People had made verbal agreements to vote for the ex-minister when the
election proper begins.
The newspaper reported that
police, acting on a tip off, detained and recorded statements from 17 people. Police
continue to conduct investigations to establish the extent of the alleged corruption,
the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, registration across
Swaziland has been hampered by problems with voter-registration computer software
equipment which is slow in uploading information. This has happened despite
promises from the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) that they were fully
prepared for the election. Software and equipment
problems also affected the last election in 2013.
The EBC reported on Sunday that
more than 85,000 people had registered to vote made up of 51 percent men and 49
percent women. The EBC has not announced how many people in Swaziland are eligible
to vote. In 2013 it put the figure at 600,000 of which 414,704 registered and 251,278
people voted. That meant that only 41.8 percent of those entitled to vote did
so in 2013.
See also
POOR START TO VOTER REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION
OPENS FOR SWAZI ELECTION
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/registration-opens-for-swazi-election.html
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