NEAR STAMPEDE AS SPECIAL VOTING TAKES OFF

MANZINI – Their votes for the last phase of the elections count, and it was not surprising that there was a near stampede when they came out in large numbers yesterday.

Thousands of emaSwati braved the hot weather to participate in the Secondary Elections (Special Voting), which took place at the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre yesterday.

The event was meant to start at 7am but there was a slight delay as the huge number of voters started pushing and shoving in a quest to gain entry to cast their votes.

The quick intervention of members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force and the Royal Eswatini Police Service solved what almost became a nasty scenario at the main gate.
The pushing and shoving was caused by the fact that at first it looked like there was no smooth flow of the queue, as most of the voters crowded the main entrance.
The situation was made worse by the voters who seemingly did not want to respect the fact that the point of entry was small and could not allow them to enter in large numbers.
Also making the situation uncontrollable was that some of the voters were literally forcing their way into the front, and ignoring calls by the officers to allow for a smooth transition of the queue. For the officers, there was an issue with some voters who, after being told that they could not enter as they did not possess the required tags refused to move away from the entry point.
Other people added to the situation by not following instructions, one of which was that they had to stand a few metres away from the entry point if they had not come to vote.
Instead, they would stand in groups, showing no signs of wanting to move away. The situation eventually improved at around noon as the officers from the uniformed forces eventually mastered the art of ensuring that there was a smooth movement in and out of the centre.
The whole exercise ended at 6pm.

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