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KING AND INDLOVUKAZI CAN VOTE IN ELECTIONS

21/05/2023 16:18:00 Mfanukhona Nkambule

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MBABANE – Have you ever asked yourself this question: “What could possibly stop His Majesty the King and Her Majesty Indlovukazi from registering for elections and voting?”

Since the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) is currently taking questions about the elections as part of its ongoing civic and voter education exercise, it elected, this time, to respond to queries from the Times SUNDAY. The question goes: “Does the country have a law in its statutes that prevents the King and Indlovukazi from voting?” Consensus was reached by all the experts interviewed that there is no such law. Prince Mhlabuhlangene, the Chairman of the EBC and lawyer by profession, first said: “You are asking a very interesting question that I, in turn, have asked myself.” In his knowledge, he said there was no legislation ‘precluding Their Majesties from registering and voting under the existing laws of the country’.

Sipho Gumedze, a well-respected attorney in constitutional law and human rights, concurred with the EBC chairman that there was no law barring the King and Indlovukazi from voting.
Back to the prince, he said: “By virtue of fitting the eligibility criteria, being natural persons, or nationals above 18 years of age, while they are not legal subjects of the realm or territory called Eswatini, through being the sovereigns, they are, if I may say, the ‘first citizens’ or natural nationals of our statehood, by virtue of being the nationals in whom the Monarchical Sovereignty of the kingdom and country vests.”

natural law

He said the country’s authorities fully possessed the requirements in common law for a ‘possessor of legal rights’, be they legal rights in terms of natural law or legal rights in accordance with positive law. The EBC chairman said positive law was largely made up of statute law that regulated the election registration and voting in question. As such, according to the law of persons under common law, he said the King and Her Majesty have the legal capacity should they choose to register and/or vote in the country. “However, what I presume accommodates for this political legal right of the sovereign is the constitutional and statutory law grant of the power to appoint the 10 members of Parliament and the 20 in the senate. I should, however, declare that, this latter point is my own personal constitutional law opinion,” Prince Mhlabuhlangene said.

He further stated: “This to me is the trade off or offering in lieu of the sovereign exercising their legal right to register and vote in the elections.” But, in more correct constitutional law language, he explained that it would seem that this right of the sovereign was regulated by convention, not to exercise it, notwithstanding the fact that they possess it fully. Sipho Gumedze, the Human Rights and Constitutional Lawyer, said it should not be politically or legally correct for the King and Queen Mother to vote or register for the elections. He said he was aware that there was actually no law barring them from exercising this right.

direct voting

Since the King is a hereditary Head of State, Gumedze advised that his participation in direct voting might influence public perception, with people being influenced to pose questions on where he would register for the election. “Public interest can be generated as to where the King would vote – is he going to vote at Mayiwane because he has a residence at Buhleni or Lugongolweni because of the Mpumalanga Royal Residence?” he wondered and further opined: “Others will say he will vote at Mbabane West as Nkoyoyo Palace falls under that constituency or at Ludzeludze since Ngabezweni falls under it; and there are some people who may say he must vote under Lobamba because of Ludzidzini Royal Residence.” He was in doubts that the King would want to throw the people into a state of confusion and unnecessary perception about the centre under which he might choose to vote.

Percy Simelane, the Director of Communications at the King’s Office, said he believed the King and the Queen Mother, as parents-in-chief in this country, would want to see all their ‘candidate-children’ voted for by them. But, he said, the election laws dictated that only once could a person vote. “So, for fairness sake, the King and Queen Mother are morally better out of vote-casting,” Simelane said. A well-respected liSwati said there was to be nothing untoward for the King or Indlovukazi to lead by example by registering for the election. Preferring to address the issue on condition of anonymity, he said the King is the defender of the Constitution, which prescribes the election. He said there was to be nothing wrong with him choosing one voting centre because he also elected to align with Inyatsi regiment. He said the other regiments did not complain about the King being a member of the regiment.

vote

“He can cast his vote under Mbabane West or Motshane and exercise his right in another centre in the next election. There is nothing wrong here,” he said. In terms of Section 106 of the Constitution, another liSwati mentioned that the King is, by extension, the supreme MP. He based his theory on Section 106 (a), which provides that the supreme legislative authority of Eswatini vests in the King-in-Parliament. Section 106 (b) states that the “King and Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good government of Swaziland (Eswatini).”
If Their Majesties were to put up a legal argument over their right to vote, experts said they could invoke Section 20 (2), which reads: “For the avoidance of any doubt, a person shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, or social or economic standing, political opinion, age or disability.”
The well-respected liSwati argued: “Their social standing and birth shouldn’t preclude them from voting. They cannot be voted to Parliament because of the Head of State’s status as the King-in-Parliament.” It is not clear whether Kings in other countries cast their votes.

However, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI voted in a polling station in Rabat on the Friday of July 1, 2011. The King voted in the referendum on the new Constitution he had proposed.
The Constitution gave more powers to Parliament and the prime minister. Presidents in other countries do vote. In the year 2000, the late Zulu King Zwelithini publicly declared that he would not vote in the local government election to prevent disparity among his people. His former Spokesperson, TC Mamela, said the King had not voted in the last election or any of the previous elections. He said the King was concerned that he had subjects in all political parties.

eligibility

The King’s five wives would also not vote by virtue of being members of the royal family. In Britain during the general election in 2017, there were discussions on the eligibility of the then Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, to vote. An article by Newsweek stated that there was nothing in written British law barring the Monarch from voting in an election. “But, as the Brits might say, it just isn’t done,” the publication wrote. Although the Monarch is not prohibited by law, the UK Parliament website says: “It is considered unconstitutional for the Monarch to vote in an election.” Meanwhile in Eswatini, it is not clear if Princess Sikhanyiso, the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, will vote.