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Monday, 21 May 2018

POLICE PROBE ELECTION ‘CORRUPTION’

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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