Loading AI tools
Lower chamber of Swaziland's bicameral Parliament From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The House of Assembly of Eswatini is the lower chamber of the country's bicameral Parliament.[2] The Assembly may debate and pass bills,[3] although as the country is an absolute monarchy, the role of the legislature is mostly advisory.
House of Assembly of Eswatini | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 76, currently 70 |
 | |
Political groups |
Nominated (10)
|
| Meeting place | |
| Lobamba | |
| Website | |
| web | |
The House of Assembly was established in 1967 when the Legislative Council was disbanded and bicameral legislature was established in the new constitution.[4]
A maximum of 76 members are permitted by section 95 (1) of the Constitution.[3] There are currently 66. Fifty-five members are elected from single-member constituencies corresponding to the tinkhundlas (tribal communities).[3] Fourteen tinkhundlas are in Hhohho District, 11 in Lubombo District, 16 in Manzini District, and 14 in Shiselweni District. The King appoints the other ten members,[3] at least half of whom must be women.[5] The 66th member is the Speaker of the House, who is elected from outside the House.[3] If the percentage of women members falls below 30%, a maximum of four women may be elected from the administrative regions.[2]
Each member must be a citizen of Eswatini, at least 18 years old, a registered voter, and have "paid all taxes or made arrangements satisfactory to the Commissioner of Taxes".[5]
The House selects ten of the 30 members of the upper chamber, the Senate of Eswatini, the King appointing the rest.[6]
Candidates are first nominated at the tinkhundla level and chosen by secret ballot by the traditional chiefs. The top three finishers then proceed to a general election, also by secret ballot, in a first-past-the-post system of voting. Here, the candidate who receives the most votes from the population in each constituency is elected.[5][6] All candidates run on a non-partisan basis, as political parties are banned in the country, and serve five-year terms.[2]
Observer teams from the Commonwealth of Nations were present at the 2003, 2008 and 2013 elections.[7] The most recent election took place in September 2018.[7]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
