BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE– About 29 per cent emaSwati have registered for the general elections.
In today’s statistics by the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) have revealed that 326 890 emaSwati have registered for the national elections. This amount form about 29 per cent of emaSwati.
Out of the 326 890 people, 152 624 that had registered were males and 174 266 were females.
This was revealed by the Election and Boundaries Commission through their official portals of communication.
The communiqué also emphasised that a person who knowingly made a false statement in connection with having that person’s name included in the voters roll commits an offense and is liable to a fine of E20 000 or two years in prison or both and shall be disqualified to as a voter for five years (Voter Registration Act 2013).
Just like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has appreciated the country’s Government for being inclusive by inducting persons living with disabilities with the general elections.
Speaking at the ‘Disability Inclusive Elections Training’ workshop at Happy Valley Hotel in Ezulwini this morning, UNFPA Head of Office Margaret Thwala-Tembe said she was happy to make remarks at the important workshop where they would discuss ways of promoting disability inclusive elections in 2023 and strengthen stakeholder’s capacity and knowledge to implement disability inclusive elections.
“We applaud the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, for all the efforts made in creating an enabling environment for persons with disabilities to participate in the national development agenda.
“This has been achieved through national legislations, that is, the Persons With Disability Act of 2018, PWDs Regulation and international treaties ratification for example, United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as well as programmes that promote disability mainstreaming in Eswatini.
“The aim of having this engagement today is to come up with strategies of promoting and ensuring the participation of PWDs in the 2023 elections as well as removing barriers for participation and reaffirming the abilities of persons with disabilities,” she said.
