Most presiding officers at polling stations did not know how to seal ballot boxes properly, a group of official election observers reported.
At Kwaluseni about 16 candidates and their agents
walked out of the counting in protest at cheating and called for the election
in the constituency to be cancelled.
The Swazi
Observer reported (29 August 2018) there were complaints that ballot papers
were tightly interlocked and could not be easily removed from ballot boxes.
Candidates questioned how a thick package of papers could have been in the box
when it was half empty.
The Observer
reported, ‘The package was two ballot papers interlocked at right angles with
several other papers neatly tucked in them.’
Counting was stopped for several hours with three boxes
out of seven uncounted. It was later completed despite protests.
There were also allegations at Kwaluseni that during
the voting polling station officers had told people who to vote for.
Voters in Swaziland (recently
renamed Eswatini by the kingdom’s absolute monarch King Mswati III)
went to the polls in the first round of national and community elections on Saturday
(25 August 2018). Political
parties are banned from taking part and the King appoints the Prime
Minister and government ministers.
Candidates and voters from the Buka
Chiefdom and Lobamba Lomdzala marched on the offices of the EBC calling for the
votes in their areas to be recounted.
At Buka they said the number of votes cast did not
tally with the number of registered voters and some rejected ballot papers were
counted, according to the Swazi Observer. They also
said some ballot boxes were late arriving at the count after voting ended at
Buka.
Voters from Lobamba Lomdzala told the
newspaper they suspected ‘foul play’ at the election. The EBC asked them to
detail complaints in writing.
EBC Commissioner Ncumbi Maziya said many complaints had been received
from across the kingdom. ‘We have received complaints from Ezulwini, Lobamba
Lomdzala, Kwaluseni and some from Mpolonjeni in the Lubombo region,’ the Observer quoted Maziya saying.
The Observer added, ‘He said
the commission would follow the proper channels in addressing the complaints by
the electorate.
‘“I also advised them to go to the court if need be so that their
concerns could be addressed expeditiously.”’
A
report on the election process from the Eswatini
Elections Support Network which is overseen by the Coordinating Assembly of
NGOs (CANGO) which visited about 170 polling stations on the day said, ‘Most
presiding officers struggled to seal ballot boxes and this is a serious concern
that needs urgent attention. Poor seals allow for the ballot boxes to be
manipulated and damage the credibility of the results. CANGO would like to
encourage EBC to seriously invest in an urgent training for all presiding
officers to be taught how to seal ballot boxes properly.’
Members of the Operational Support Service Unit
(OSSU), the paramilitary police wing, were called to Nkhaba Old Inkhundla
polling station and Matsanjeni South ‘to calm the situation where voters
blocked the exit of electoral officials who were transporting ballot papers to
a central command place where counting could take place’, CANGO reported.
See also
Independent
Election Observers in Swaziland Barred From Some Polling Stations, Told to Sign
Secrecy Forms
First Round of Swaziland Election Marred by
Inefficiency and Fear of Vote-Rigging
Chaos
and Violence Reported Across Swaziland as Voters go to the Polls
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/08/chaos-and-violence-reported-across.html
Organised Certainty, Why elections in Swaziland are not democratic
https://www.scribd.com/document/384752084/Organised-Certainty-Why-Elections-in-Swaziland-Are-Not-Democratic
Organised Certainty, Why elections in Swaziland are not democratic
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