Times Of Swaziland: PUDEMO WANTS TO JOIN 2018 ELECTIONS

PUDEMO WANTS TO JOIN 2018 ELECTIONS
================================================================================
 BY NOSIPHO SHONGWE on 20/02/2017 07:29:00


MBABANE – SWAYOCO and PUDEMO are allegedly lobbying their counterparts to
agree to contest in the upcoming 2018 elections.
In a roundabout turn, the country’s political parties with the most members
which had always denounced participation in elections, seem to have had a change
of heart.
Information received has revealed that the People’s United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO) and the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) have been instructed by
their donors to look into changing their strategy for bringing democracy into
the country.
“Informal discussions have begun in small groups and it was revealed that most
of the members who are interested in joining the elections are waiting for the
coming congress to be held soon where they will lobby the move to change
tactics.”
After years of denouncing the country’s elections and branding them ‘not
free or fair’, the proscribed entities are considering taking part in the 2018
national elections where Members of Parliament representing the 55
constituencies in the country are chosen by the people.
Certain members of political entities are looking into achieving a multiparty
Swaziland through a strategy of participation, as opposed to non-participation
as they have been doing in the past years.
This decision according to sources has been reached by certain members of the
organisations as they determine whether their stance not to participate in
certain national activities has yielded any meaningful results in terms of their
struggle to bring a multi party system in the country.
According to Maxwell Dlamini, the current SWAYOCO Secretary General, a number of
political activists were looking into the possibility of partaking in the
upcoming elections as a new strategy.
“This has been spoken in informal settings and has been discussed. Others feel
we may be forced to change our modus operandi to make an impact within the
political arena of the country.”
Dlamini said currently, he could not state whether this move would be adopted by
all political party members.
“Look, I will not pre-empt things but there is talk of a change of strategy
within our parties in order for us to make an impact; participating in the
elections is one of them.”