§ Mr. Foleyasked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and the Colonies how many actions have been 203W instituted for alleged offences under the Swaziland Legislative Council Election Proclamation 1964; and if he will give an assurance that no action will be taken to annul retrospectively any provisions of this proclamation.
§ Mr. SandysThe answer to the first part of the Question is three. It is not proposed to annul retrospectively any provisions of the Election Proclamation. A new provision (based on s. 145(1) and (2) of the United Kingdom Representation of the People Act, 1949) has, however, been inserted in the Proclamation. This will enable persons, against whom certain election offences are or may be alleged, to apply to the High Court of Swaziland for relief from the consequences of their acts or omissions. To obtain relief, an applicant will, amongst other things, have to satisfy the Court, (as in the United Kingdom) that the act or omission arose from inadvertence or from accidental miscalculation or from some other reasonable cause of a like nature, and in any case did not arise from any want of good faith; the Court's power to grant relief is discretionary, and does not extend to cases which would be the equivalent of "corrupt practices" under United Kingdom law.