For King Mswati III. These are regular parliamentary elections, but parties are not allowed in Eswatini – formerly known as Swaziland. The dominant person remains: the monarch.
According to the Eswatini Electoral Commission, a good 580,000 people have registered on the voter lists. They decide on 59 representatives in the lower house in Lobamba, southeast of the capital Mbabane. Each electoral district sends one representative. Results are expected this weekend.
Parties have not been allowed to run in elections in Eswatini since 1973; only “deserving individuals” can apply. In addition, King Mswati III appoints ten representatives in the lower house and 20 of the 30 representatives in the Senate itself, as well as the prime minister, all ministers and judges.
The monarch can prevent laws, dissolve parliament and the government, and the country’s police and army are also subordinate to him. That’s why opposition members declared the elections a farce and some called for a boycott.
Opposition criticizes lack of election campaign
There was also no election campaign, that was not allowed, Mfanafuthi Tsela from the Swaziland Solidarity Foundation told the ARD. “That’s why elections are meaningless as long as power is outside this parliament. They won’t change anything.”
Tsela left Eswatini 25 years ago because his life was in danger there. From exile in Johannesburg, South Africa, the 54-year-old is committed to freedom and democracy in his home country.
Protests for more democracy dejected
King Mswati III allowed demands from predominantly student demonstrators for more democracy and freedom. Violently suppress in 2021 and 2022. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 46 people died.
The fatal shooting of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko in January 2023 also remains unsolved. King Mswati III had recently publicly threatened that activists calling for the abolition of the monarchy should “not whine if they are killed by mercenaries.”
Will there be more unrest?
“This is a monarchy, a regime that does not shy away from using violence to ensure that the Dlamini royal family retains iron power,” Chris Maroleng of the non-governmental organization Good Governance Africa told Newzroom Africa television.
Mfanafuthi Tsela of the Swaziland Solidarity Foundation believes there will be more unrest. “The people of the country will rise up, the only question is when. That they will do so is certain.”
Before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, King Mswati III. on September 20 emphasized that Eswatini is a democratic monarchy in which Parliament plays an important role in shaping the future of all. “We remain steadfast in our call for a peaceful resolution of conflicts and continuous improvement of democratic and inclusive governance.”
Mswati III presents herself on holidays. close to the people and traditional. But his wealth stands in stark contrast to the poverty in Eswatini.
Luxury for the king, poverty for the people
In the mountainous kingdom between South Africa and Mozambique, which is about half the size of Belgium, a third of the population lives below the international poverty line and has less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank. Unemployment is high and almost every second person has no access to sanitary facilities. Nowhere in the world are as many people infected with HIV as in Eswatini, namely 27 percent of 15 to 49 year olds.
At the same time, King Mswati III is luxuriating. publicly in luxury, treating himself and his 15 wives to private jets, expensive cars, gold-plated furniture and luxury watches. The 55-year-old took over rule in the Kingdom of Swaziland from his father in 1986. In 2018 he renamed it Eswatini on his own initiative.
According to the polling institute Afrobarometer, almost 84 percent of people in Eswatini currently believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction. That is twice as many as before the last election in 2018. Almost 60 percent of those under 35 want a democratic government.
Eswatini’s parliament is elected every five years; in 2018, voter turnout was a good 60 percent. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has sent election observers to the kingdom.