Eswatini

House of AssemblySenate

House of Assembly

About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Notes

Following the proclamation by the King on the occasion of the country’s 50th anniversary in April 2018, the country name has been modified from Swaziland to Eswatini with effective of 30 May 2018.
Suite à la proclamation du Roi à l'occasion du 50ème anniversaire du pays en avril 2018, le nom du pays a été modifié de Swaziland à Eswatini avec effet au 30 mai 2018.
Parliament name
Libandla (Parliament)
Chamber name
House of Assembly
Structure & Status of parliament This field is to indicate lower/upper in the back end.
Lower chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
5

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 2016
IPU Geopolitical Group/s IPU Geopolitical Groups: African Group, Arab Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eurasia Group, Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Twelve Plus Group.
African Group

Speaker

Official title The Speaker may for example be known as the Presiding Officer, President, Chairman/Chairperson, etc.
Speaker of the House of Assembly
Speaker
Jabulani Clement Mabuza (Male)
Year of birth
1972
Term
06.10.2023
Additional information
Elected on 6 Oct. 2023.
See historical data for this field.

Secretary General

Official title This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Clerk to Parliament
Secretary General
Benedict Xaba (Male)
Official title This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Clerk at Table of the House of Assembly
Secretary General
Raymond Mkhonta (Male)

Members

Statutory number of members Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
74
See historical data for this field. Compare data of this field.
Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected members Directly elected by citizens.
59
Indirectly elected members Indirectly elected, for example by regional parliaments or an electoral college.
4
Appointed members Appointed, for example, by the Head of State.
10
Other members For example, ex-officio members of parliament, such as Cabinet members, members of the royal family, Attorney General, Speaker if appointed from outside parliament.
1
Note on the statutory number of members
The House of Assembly may comprise up to 76 members as follows:
- No more than 60 members elected from constituencies;*
- No more than 10 members nominated by the King;
- Four female members, specially elected from the four regions;**
- The Attorney General, who is an ex officio member;
- The Speaker, who may be designated from outside Parliament and thereby becomes an ex officio Member of Parliament.

* The House of Assembly elected in 2023 comprises 59 directly elected members, including the Speaker.
** The 2005 Constitution stipulates that the House of Assembly will elect one woman from each of the four regions of the country in cases where the proportion of women is less than 30% of the total membership of Parliament (the House of Assembly and the Senate). In accordance with the Election of Women Members to the House of Assembly Act (Act No. 09 of 2018), four additional women were elected in December 2023. The House of Assembly thus comprises 16 women out of 74 members.
See historical data for this field.
Current number of members Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
74
See historical data for this field. Compare data of this field.
Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
58
See historical data for this field.
Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
16
See historical data for this field.
Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
21.62% See historical data for this field.
Statutory number of members per country As defined in the constitution or other fundamental laws. Combines the number of parliamentarians in both chambers in bicameral parliaments.
104 See historical data for this field.
Population (in thousands)
Click for historical data
See historical data for this field.

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Average age of all members
Click for historical data
See historical data for this field.
Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 2 12 13 16 20 9 1 0 0
Total <= 45: 27 Total >= 46: 46
Male 0 2 10 10 15 15 4 1 0 0 57
Female 0 0 2 3 1 5 5 0 0 0 16
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger2.74%2.74%0%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger19.18%16.44%2.74%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger36.99%30.14%6.85%
Members for whom data is available
73 See historical data for this field.

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups Reserved seats are a means to ensure the parliamentary representation of certain groups in society.

Number of reserved seats, by group

Women
4
Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Notes
At least 5 of the 10 members appointed by the King to the House of Assembly must be women. When women do not constitute at least 30% of the total number of Members of Parliament (House of Assembly and Senate) after any general election, the House of Assembly shall elect no more than four women as its members on a regional basis.