The widely discredited 20 September election saw pro-royal politicians take nearly all 55 parliamentary seats. Traditional chiefs loyal to King Mswati III had vetted all the candidates. Media coverage of the poll was, though, overtaken by the King’s marriage to his 15th wife two days earlier. Mswati will now appoint ten more members of parliament, a premier and the 30-member Senate. Despite the low credibility of the polls, one oppositionist, Jan Sithole of the Swaziland Democratic Party, was elected, but as an individual, not for a party because they are banned. He said he would work for change from within.
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