Eswatini holds parliamentary elections under monarch’s control

Voters in Eswatini will cast their ballots on Friday in parliamentary elections whose outcome will make little difference to the politics of a country controlled by Africa's last absolute monarch. King Mswati III has ruled the southern African kingdom of about 1.2 million people since 1986, when he inherited the crown from his father, Sobhuza II. Political parties are banned, but individual candidates can run for seats in the House of Assembly every five years.