People are registering more than once ahead of the Swaziland
national election due in September.
The revelation puts the integrity of the election in the
kingdom ruled by the autocratic monarch King Mswati III in doubt.
The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) said some
people were offered bribes of E100 (US$10) or E200 to register twice.
EBC Chair Chief Gija Dlamini told local media, ‘There are
people who have promised the voters that, if they vote for them twice, they
will give them E100 or E200 and they get tempted.’
He said voters caught registering more than once would be
arrested.
Despite double-registering, the total number of
registrations for the election has fallen far short of the 600,000 people who
are entitled to vote. Registration ends on 23 June and at the current rate of
sign-up, the EBC might not reach 400,000 voters.
The registration process has been hampered by computer
break-downs and staff who have not been trained properly to use them.
A campaign to boycott the election is gathering pace in
Swaziland. Political parties are banned from taking part in the election and
the parliament that is selected has no real power and acts as a rubber stamp
for King Mswati, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch.
Last week the EBC said it did not have enough money to
run the election successfully as the Swazi Government had cut its allocation
from E200 million to E100 million. It is claimed that the EBC cannot afford
enough staff to monitor the registration of voters across the whole kingdom.
There is also doubt that staff working for the EBC will be paid on time.
The Times of Swaziland quoted Chief Gija saying, ‘The current state we are in is caused
by the initial budgeting constraints. We had asked for E200 million, but
government said it could only afford E100 million. It does not come as a
surprise then when we struggle in some aspects. The money is now less and we
are patching here and there.’
See also
SWAZI BOGUS
ELECTION – SPONSORED BY MTN
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