STATEMENT

BY

HONOURABLE HIGHVIE HAMUDUDU, SPECIAL ADVISOR TO

THE PRESIDENCY FOR THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA

AND

HEAD OF THE SADC ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION (SEOM)

TO

THE 2018 GENERAL ELECTIONS

IN

THE KINGDOM OF ESWATINI

EZULWINI, 16 SEPTEMBER, 2018

 Distinguished Members of the SADC Organ Troika;

Mr Jorge Cardoso, Director of the Organ on Politics, Defence and

Security Affairs, representing the Executive Secretary of SADC;

Chairperson and Members of the Election and Boundaries

Commission of the Kingdom of Eswatini;

Heads of International Electoral Observation Missions;

Your Excellencies, Heads and Representatives of the Diplomatic

Missions accredited to the Kingdom of Eswatini;

Members of the SADC Electoral Advisory Council;

SADC Election Observers;

Representatives of Local Election Observers;

Religious Leaders and Members of the Civil Society;

Members of the media;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

On behalf of His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the

Republic of Zambia, and the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on
Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, and indeed on my own
behalf, it is my honour and privilege to welcome you to the official launch
of the SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) to the 21
September, 2018 General Elections in the Kingdom of Eswatini.

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Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our Mission to the Kingdom of Eswatini was at the invitation of the

Election and Boundaries Commission (ECB) of the Kingdom of Eswatini.
This practice is in conformity with the SADC Treaty; the SADC Protocol
on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation and the revised SADC
Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2015).

To this end, His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the

Republic of Zambia, and Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence,
and Security Cooperation, constituted the SADC Electoral Observation
Mission (SEOM) and mandated the Executive Secretary of SADC to
prepare the logistics for its deployment to the Kingdom of Eswatini.

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is important to emphasise that SADC observes elections based on the

Revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic
Elections (2015). These Principles and Guidelines are also informed by
the continental instruments of the African Union (AU) such as the African
Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007) and the
African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1981); as well as by
International Human Rights instruments and conventions of the United
Nations.

While noting that no electoral system is perfect, our Member States

continue to make strides towards improving the conduct of their
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elections in line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines and the
recommendations of the SEOM.

Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines, the present SEOM was
preceded by the Pre-Election Assessment and Goodwill Mission of the
SADC Electoral Advisory Council (SEAC) from 27-31 August 2018. The
SEAC Mission noted that the Kingdom of Eswatini has a unique political
and electoral system, the Tinkhundla or Monarchical democracy,
whereby political representation is based on the selection of candidates
by individual merit.

The SEAC Mission interacted with political stakeholders, and noted

some of their concerns regarding; inter alia;
(i) The role of the media in the electoral process; and
(ii) The engagement of the EBC with stakeholders.

At this stage, the SEOM notes the following challenges raised by the
EBC in their quest to enhance the management of the electoral system;
(i) The need for the EBC to improve its accessibility by
establishing regional offices and research and development
capability;
(ii) The issue of the functional independence of the EBC
remains a challenge, particularly where it relates to financial
autonomy and the recruitment of its staff, as these are
administratively controlled by the Government; and

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 (iii) The need to strengthen the law in order to promote better
enforcement of the electoral laws by the EBC.

Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In this regard, whilst congratulating the people of Eswatini for the

peaceful conduct of their elections in September 2013, the SEOM made
the following recommendations:
(i) Possible establishment of an electoral tribunal to timeously
attend to all electoral disputes and complaints;
(ii) Establishment of an Electoral Committee comprising of major
stakeholders to attend to issues arising from the electoral
process;
(iii) Greater participation of women in leadership positions in line
with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development; and
(iv) Counting of ballot papers at each polling station.

The SEOM recognises the following positive strides that have been
made by the Kingdom of Eswatini to improve the electoral system:
(i) The enactment of legislation in 2018 which ensures that
women constitute at least 30% of the members of the House
of Assembly. This is a laudable initiative which, amongst
others, goes towards implementing the SADC Protocol on
Gender and Development and responding to the
recommendations made by the SEOM in 2013;
(ii) Efforts made by the EBC in 2018 to roll out voter education
to people with disabilities, particularly with respect to the
development and dissemination of voter education material;

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 (iii) Accreditation of at least 121 local observers; and
(iv) Ongoing efforts by the EBC to engage the media in order to
develop a Draft Code of Conduct for the Media during
Elections.

Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,

While the over-arching framework for SEOM’s electoral observation is

based on the Revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing
Democratic Elections, the Mission is also guided by the Constitution of
the Kingdom of Eswatini, and the laws which govern various aspects of
elections, including elections to the House of Assembly, the Senate,
election expenses, and the aforementioned recent law in furtherance of
the enhanced participation of women in the electoral process.

Informed by these inter-related regional and national frameworks, the

SADC Electoral Observation Mission will assess the conduct of the
elections against a set of central principles stipulated in the Revised
SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections such
as:
1. Full participation of the citizens in the political process;

2. Freedom of association;

3. Political tolerance;

4. Equal opportunity for all candidates and political parties to

access the state media;

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 5. Equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for;

6. Independence of the Judiciary and impartiality of the electoral

institutions;

7. Civic and Voter education;

8. Acceptance and respect of the election results by all electoral

stakeholders as proclaimed to have been free and fair by the
competent Electoral Commission in accordance with the law of
the land.

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to inform you that the SADC Electoral Observation Mission

to the 2018 General Elections is now fully constituted. The SEOM
consists, in total, of 34 observers from 11 SADC Member States namely
Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho,
Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Mission is supported by 2 experts on electoral processes from
SEAC and 10 staff from the SADC Secretariat. Our observers will be
deployed to all the 4 administrative regions of the Kingdom of Eswatini,
namely, Hhohho, Manzini, Lubombo and Shiselweni. Our observations
will focus on the pre-election period which includes the campaigns, the
voting day and the process of the counting of the ballot papers.

May I, therefore, encourage all stakeholders to ensure that these

General Elections are managed in a peaceful, free, fair, transparent and
credible manner; and that the electoral process adheres to democratic
values and principles envisioned in our SADC Treaty, the Protocol of

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Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation; and the revised SADC
Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to also invite you all to attend
the release of our Preliminary Statement, scheduled for 23 September
2018, at this very Venue.

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is now my singular honour, on behalf of the Chairperson of the Organ

on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, H.E Mr. Edgar Chagwa
Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia to declare the SADC
Electoral Observation Mission to the 2018 General Elections in the
Kingdom of Eswatini, officially launched.

Thank you very much

Siyabonga