Swazi Observer

FULL STORY

‘BUYING SENATE VOTES UNDERMINES ELECTIONS’

By Nkosingiphile Myeni | 2023-10-21

Amidst the hullabaloo of buying votes for senate seats from MPs, the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration and Integrity (CHRPAI) has weighed-in on the ongoing investigations on senate seats buying.

CHRPAI Deputy Commissioner Duduzile Dlamini-Nhlengethwa said they would wait for investigations currently being conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to be swiftly concluded.
Nhlengethwa said the ongoing talk of buying votes undermined the integrity of elections ‘and flies in the face of democratic governance.’

“Vote buying undermines the integrity of elections. It embraces discrimination and presents an unfair advantage to those who have integrity and will not buy votes,” she said.
The matter has not been wrapped up yet and its conclusion is awaited.

The Human Rights Commission comment comes after the election of 10 members of the senate, which had been marred with allegations of vote buying that happened in the extended first sitting of the House of Assembly.

Although the first order paper of the 12th parliament on Friday October 6 stated that the 69 members who were sworn-in were to elect 10 senate members as per the Senate Elections Act, such an election was conducted a week later on Thursday October 13.

In the storm after it surfaced, Clerk to Parliament, Benedict Xaba, laid a complaint with the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).

Xaba said the senators-elect who allegedly bought votes could be removed through the Parliament Petition Act No. 8 of 2013, a legislation which states that the election or appointment of a candidate as a senator shall be declared void on a number of grounds, which are proved to the satisfaction of the court.

Nhlengethwa said the CHRPAI regarded parliament as one of the key pillars of integrity and that the chambers ‘were expected to uphold the highest level of integrity, justice and fairness.’

CHRPAI agreed with Xaba on the allegations of violating the laws of elections in the country.
“The electoral laws of the country make it illegal to buy votes, hence we recommend that these allegations should be thoroughly investigated,” she said.

In the election process, which some have recommended for a review or its abolishment; the election and vote counting process as per the Senate Elections Act of 2013, states that it begins with the distribution of the ballot papers to all the 69 members of Parliament, 59 elected and 10 appointed, who all have a right to vote.

Once the legislators were handed the ballot papers with pictures of all the candidates, they were granted time to return to their seats and thoroughly go through the ballot papers to identify their preferred candidates.

The MPs cast their votes based on preference, the original vote being the first preference followed by the second, third, fourth and so forth for all the nominees based on their choice.

They then go to the voting stations individually to cast their votes and place the ballot papers in the ballot boxes each for both categories.

During the vote counting, the first preference votes are counted first and after the counting is completed, all the first preference votes are counted at once in order to calculate the quarter of votes required for winning the elections.

In the contested voting, the MPs cast their votes to a total of 69 original votes for both categories. This number was then divided by five, plus one meaning 69 original votes were decided by six.
This figure equated to 11 and the formula then provided that one is added to the 11, making the final quota of votes required to win for both categories as 12.

The process required that the original votes for all candidates were first counted to determine if any of them has met the quarter from the original votes.

Fezeka Dlamini, for instance, had 14 preferred votes and automatically won a seat under the female category as she had already amassed the required 12 original votes.

share story