The Swaziland Democratic
Party (SWADEPA) is going to the High Court to try to force absolute monarch King Mswati III
to allow political parties to contest the forthcoming election.
Parties have been banned
from running since a royal decree in 1973
established the absolute monarchy.
SWADEPA wants its party
members to openly contest the election due later this year. Under the present
system of ‘Monarchical
Democracy’ people are
only allowed to stand as individuals. At the last election in 2013 Jan Sithole
the SWADEPA President was elected in this way to the House of Assembly in Manzini
North.
The application is expected
to be heard on 20 July 2018.
Elections are held every
five years in Swaziland but international observers do not consider them to be
‘free and fair’ because political parties cannot take part. 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.
As in previous years, none
of the 30 members of the Swazi Senate will be elected by the people; the King
will choose 20 and the other 10 will be chosen by members of the House of
Assembly. The King picks the Prime Minister and Government.
In its report on conduct of the 2013 election, the
African Union (AU) mission called for fundamental changes to ensure people had
freedom of speech and of assembly. The AU said the Swaziland Constitution
guaranteed ‘fundamental rights and freedoms including the rights to freedom of
association’, but in practice ‘rights with regard to political assembly and
association are not fully enjoyed’. The AU said this was because political
parties were not allowed to contest elections.
The AU urged Swaziland to review the constitution,
especially in the areas of ‘freedoms of conscience, expression, peaceful
assembly, association and movement as well as international principles for free
and fair elections and participation in electoral process’.
In its report
on the 2013 elections, Commonwealth observers recommended that measures be
put in place to ensure separation of powers between the government, parliament
and the courts so that Swaziland was in line with its international
commitments.
It also called on the Swaziland
Constitution to be ‘revisited’ and recommended that a law be passed to
allow for political parties to take part in elections, ‘so as to give full
effect to the letter and spirit of Section 25 of the Constitution, and in
accordance with Swaziland’s commitment to its regional and international
commitments’.
The European Union Election Experts Mission (EEM) made
much of how the kingdom’s absolute monarchy undermined democracy. In its report it
stated, ‘The King has absolute power and is considered to be above the law,
including the Constitution,
enjoying the power to assent laws and immunity from criminal proceedings. A
bill shall not become law unless the King has assented to it, meaning that the
parliament is unable to pass any law which the King is in disagreement with.
‘The King will refer back the provisions he is not in
agreement with, which makes the parliament and its elected chamber, the House
of Assembly, ineffective, unable to achieve the objective a parliament is
created for: to be the legislative branch of the state and maintain the
government under scrutiny.’
The EEM went on to say the ‘main principles for a
democratic state are not in place’ in Swaziland.
See also
U.S.
AMBASSADOR ENCOURAGES PARTIES
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/swaziland-political-parties-facts.html
PARTIES STILL BANNED FROM ELECTION
PARTIES STILL BANNED FROM ELECTION
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/parties-still-banned-from-election.html
ONE IN THREE WANT POLITICAL PARTIES
ONE IN THREE WANT POLITICAL PARTIES
SWAZIS WANT DEMOCRACY - SURVEY
EU TELLS KING: ‘FREE PARTIES’
UK CALLS FOR PARTIES TO BE UN-BANNED
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