The Impact of Sadc on Swaziland's Electoral Politics : SADC Principles and Guidelines

Regional organization opens doors for member states to adopt and adhere to rules or principles which will lead them in the same direction together. It is always the hope that once member states have collectively embarked towards the same goal, a successful regional community will emerge. In other parts of the world, such as the European Union, regional governance has progressed tremendously whilst in some this trend is still on the rise. The objective of this research is to evaluate if regional governance in the Southern African Development Community is being effective in Swaziland in terms of elections based on the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections. Based on the qualitative in-depth interviews with research candidates and supporting data, the results of this thesis research indicate that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been an impact on Swaziland's elections for the reason that the country has applied nineteen (19) out of the twenty(20) SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. In addition, SADC's regional governance power has performed an influential role in the Southern African region.