House of Assembly of Eswatini

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The House of Assembly of Eswatini is the lower house in the bicameral system of the Parliament of Swaziland . The House of Commons can advise and pass laws. The meeting place is in Lobamba .

Constitution

A maximum of 76 members are admitted under Section 95 (1) of the Constitution of Swaziland, which continues to apply even after the name change to Eswatini . Since 2013, 55 of them have been representatives of their constituencies, the Tinkhundla . In the sub-units of the Tinkhundla, the Chiefdoms, candidates stand for election in a first round without being associated with a party. The candidate with the highest number of votes goes into a second round, where the candidate with the highest number of votes becomes Tinkhundla's constituency member. Ten more MPs are appointed by the king. The Attorney General also has a mandate in the House of Assembly . Every five years the Senate and House of Assembly are re-elected or appointed. After the elections in August / September 2013 , the next election took place in August / September 2018 . There are 15 tinkhundla in the Hhohho district , 11 in Lubombo , 19 in Manzini and 16 in Shiselweni . The king appoints another 10 members, at least half of whom must be women. The 66th member is the Speaker of the House , who is elected by the assembly from outside. If the proportion of women falls below 30%, four more women from the administrative regions can be elected.

Each member must be a citizen of Eswatini, at least 18 years old, a registered voter and have no tax debts (paid all taxes or made arrangements satisfactory to the Commissioner of Taxes).

The House of Assembly elects ten of the 30 members of the Upper House , the Senate of Eswatini , and the King appoints the rest.

Political parties were banned from 1973, and their status has been unclear since 2005. There are several opposition groups, for example the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO, German for "United Democratic People's Movement"), which strives for a multi-party system, the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC, for example "National Liberation Congress of Ngwane") and the Communist Party of Swaziland ("Communist Party of Swaziland"). A new constitution has been in force since 2005, which confirms the absolute rights of the king and still does not allow any parties in elections.

elections

The candidates are first nominated at the level of the tinkhundla . The winner is determined from the three best nominees by secret ballot in a majority voting system (first-past-the-post system of voting).

Commonwealth of Nations election observation teams were present in the 2003, 2008 and 2013 elections.

2018 several international delegations participated as election observers attended, including a delegation from the African Union , led by former President of Seychelles , James Michel was headed.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b The House of Assembly. Government of Eswatini, accessed November 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c Legislature . Government of Eswatini.
  3. ^ THE CONSTITUTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ESWATINI, 2005. Government of Eswatini, accessed November 11, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c Swaziland's Constitution of 2005 .
  5. ↑ a b Swaziland: Constitution and politics . Commonwealth of Nations. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 1, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / thecommonwealth.org
  6. ↑ Swaziland National Elections / 20 September 2013 / Report of the Commonwealth Observer Mission . Commonwealth of Nations. September 25, 2013.
  7. ↑ Eswatini elections and the tomfoolery of observer missions. Daily Maverick, September 26, 2018, accessed September 26, 2018