29 September 2023: Citizens of the Kingdom of Eswatini are going to the polls to cast their votes to elect Members of the National Assembly. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) team led by His Excellency Mr. Enock P. Kavindele, former Vice President of the Republic of Zambia and Head of the SEOM to the Kingdom of Eswatini, is taking part in observing the elections across all four regions. The presence of the SEOM is intended to ensure that the elections are conducted in accordance with the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections of 2021, which requires all SADC Member States to hold elections and invites the SEOM to assess the electoral cycle.
As part of the SEOM mission, the team will assess the overall transparency, fairness, and credibility of the electoral process. Today, the SEOM mission is on the ground to observe how voting and counting of ballots are being conducted. SEOM will release the Preliminary Statement of the elections in the Kingdom of Eswatini on 1st October 2023 at 1100hours, which will include the pre-election, election and post-election phases.
