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Friday 7 September 2018

Swaziland Senior Election Officer Calls For Arrest Of ‘Prominent People’ Who Are Rigging Kingdom’s Vote

Ncumbi Maziya, a senior member of Swaziland’s elections commission, says ‘prominent people’ are rigging the kingdom’s election and he wants them arrested.

Swaziland (recently renamed Eswatini by absolute monarch King Mswati III) has completed the first round of elections and campaigning is in progress ahead of the final vote on 21 September 2018.

Maziya told a meeting for election candidates in Nhlangano, ‘How I wish to have some of the prominent figures who have joined the race to Parliament be exposed of corruption so that others can also learn a lesson,’ the Swazi Observer reported on Tuesday (4 September 2018).

Maziya a commissioner with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), the body running the election, said, ‘It’s one of my wishes that we have some of these prominent figures arrested for what they do when it is time for elections. They are known and they think their wealth is the only passport to Parliament. Let at least one of the so-called heavyweights be exposed as they are corrupt. 

‘It’s time as a country we put such people in their right place. We can’t allow them to do as they please because they have money and they even bribe their way to be lawmakers.’

Maziya did not name the people he accused. He said the EBC was trying to ensure these people would not influence the outcome of the election.

Last week Maziya said corrupt members of the House of Assembly sold their votes when they elected the kingdom’s senators. He told a workshop that they charged E60,000 (US$4,000) for their vote. In Swaziland no member of the 30-member Senate is elected by the people. King Mswati appoints 20 and members of the House of Assembly elect the other 10.

Swaziland’s elections are recognised outside the kingdom to be undemocratic. Political parties are banned from taking part and the King appoints the Prime Minister and government ministers.
People are only allowed to elect 59 members of the House of Assembly, another 10 are appointed by the King.


See also

Swaziland Election Officer Reveals MPs Sell Their Votes When Electing Kingdom’s Senators
Vote-Rigging Claims During Swaziland’s Election Grow. Calls For Some Polls To Be Re-Run
Polling Station Riot and Fresh Accusations of Vote-Rigging Reported at Swaziland Election
Fears Grow of Vote-Rigging and Malpractice in Swaziland Election. Ballot Boxes Not Properly Sealed
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
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/08/first-round-of-swaziland-election.html

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

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