UntitledBackground
Swaziland is the last country in the Southern African
region that has not undertaken a democratic
transition to multi-party politics. In October 2003,
national parliamentary elections were held
in which a 55-member National Assembly was
elected. However, due to the continuing
ban on political parties, opposition groups
called for a boycott of the elections. Coupled
with the national elections, the kingdom
is undertaking a constitutional review process
aimed at developing a constitution to replace
the 1973 Decree that banned political parties.
The constitutional process is boycotted
by the pro-democracy forces, who claim that
the Constitutional review Commission is
biased in favor of the status-quo. In addition
to the election activities, a series of
bombings have rocked the once quiet kingdom.
A group identifying itself as the "Black
Tigers" have claimed responsibility for
the bombings, demanding multiparty politics
and greater political democratization in
the country.
Past Program Overview
NDI completed an eight-month USAID-funded
program to assist in all aspects local government
elections and conduct a local government
training program. This program built upon
the past work of NDI in the Manzini special
elections in November 1997. At that time,
NDI was invited into Swaziland by the Prime
Minister and Manzini City Council to help
overcome an election impasse in the largest
town in Swaziland. These elections led to
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
inviting NDI to assist in the local government
elections program. NDI agreed to assist
the local government process based upon
the belief that developing effective, efficient
and transparent local government could assist
in the democratic transition process. The
democratic nature of local government could
encourage the central government to democratize
even further.
Local Government Elections
The election component of the program consisted
of a series of voter education and candidate
training exercises including workshops as
well as print and broadcast support of the
process. In addition, NDI trained polling
station staff to properly administer the
elections on voting day. These activities
culminated in over 70 percent of eligible
voters registering for the local government
elections and 35 percent of eligible voters
casting ballots. These figures are the highest
in the history of elections in Swaziland.
Local Government Training
The local government training program adapted
nine NDI local government manuals to the
circumstances in Swaziland. Three of nine
manuals were printed by NDI for two separate
workshops including: A Guide for Conducting
Public Meetings, A Guide for Understanding
Local Government Laws and Managing Local
Government Finances. The first workshop
entitled "How to Conduct a Public Meeting
and Understanding Local Government Laws"
was conducted in nine of the 11 municipalities
with over 75 percent of local councilors
attending. The second workshop entitled
"Understanding Local Government Finance"
was conducted in five of the 11 municipalities
with over 65 percent of local councilors
attending.
Contact Information
For more information on NDI's work in Southern and East Africa, please contact:
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