People who owe taxes will not be allowed to stand for parliament in the forthcoming
national elections in Swaziland / Eswatini.
An Elections and Boundaries
Commission (EBC) spokesperson said prospective candidates would be vetted after
nominations had closed and if they owed taxes they would be disqualified.
The Swazi Observer reported on Thursday (5 July 2018) Mbonisi Bhambe of
the EBC said while they did not necessarily look into the debts of an
individual they considered taxes when vetting candidates.
It quoted Bhambe saying, ‘People that are elected should be
responsible citizens, therefore, their taxes must be in order and up to date.’
It was reported
in June that police would vet all nominated candidates ahead of the election
in Swaziland where King Mswati III rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in the election.
Nominations are due to take place on 28 and 29 July
2018 ahead of a final election on 21 September 2018.
Elections in Swaziland are widely
recognised outside of the kingdom as undemocratic. Parliament has no
powers as these are vested in the King. After the election, the King will chose
the Prime Minister, government ministers and the top civil servants and judges.
At past elections people only got to select 55 of
65 members of the House of Assembly. The King chose the other 10. At the
forthcoming election there will be an additional four seats for people to vote
for. It has not been announced how many members the King will choose but the
Swaziland Constitution allows him to pick up to ten.
No members of the 30-member
Senate are elected by the people.
See also
POLICE
TO VET ALL ELECTION CANDIDATES
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