Last week's elections in Eswatini -- which was rocked by violent pro-democracy protests in 2021 -- have been described by observer missions as 'peaceful' and 'orderly'.

Preliminary reports by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union (AU) observer missions to Eswatini have found last week's parliamentary elections were "peaceful" and "orderly".

The tiny southern African kingdom held its parliamentary elections on Friday, 29 September, to elect members of parliament under an electoral system that excludes political parties.

Eswatini's elections were the second set of elections in southern Africa this year, following the contentious elections in Zimbabwe in August.

A total of 583,000 people had registered to vote in Friday's election, the country's electoral body said.

In a preliminary statement released on Sunday, the head of the SADC observer mission, former Zambian vice-president Enock Kavindele, concluded "that the pre-election and voting phases, on the 29 September 2023 General Elections were peaceful, calm and well-organised in line with the Revised SADC Guidelines and Principles Governing Democratic Elections".

Kavindele commended the people of Eswatini for "maintaining a peaceful political environment during the pre-election and on voting day".

The SADC observer mission comprised 47 observers from eight SADC countries: Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The SADC's preliminary findings were in stark contrast to its report on the Zimbabwe elections, which it...