Cracks emerge in Nera
CRACKS within opposition parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera) have widened ahead of the country’s 2018 harmonised elections as there seems to be no consensus on what “election reforms” should be implemented.
This emerged during a workshop in Bulawayo which was organised by the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN) on Tuesday last week. Opposition parties clamouring for the so called electoral reforms are actually divided as there seem to be no consensus in their demands ahead of the elections. Participants from civic organisations said the opposition parties were actually “rigging” themselves through divisions and fragmentations.
“The tragedy that Zimbabweans face in this country is lack of an alternative which is actually perpetuated by the opposition movement that is fragmented and divided. I have lost count of the number of MDCs that have emerged. They don’t realise the role of the opposition in any democracy of holding the ruling party accountable and they can’t do that as long as they are fragmented,” said Mr Thomas Sithole of Plumtree Development Trust.
The opposition political parties have been calling on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to reform on its operations complaining that the existing voters’ roll has for years been allegedly containing anomalies that included ghost voters, inaccuracies in identity particulars, duplication of names and omissions.
Surprisingly now that Zec has decided to start afresh the registration of eligible voters, some opposition political parties are now rejecting the new biometric voters roll for 2018 which would be polling station based. The president of the Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe (RDZ), Mr Elton Mangoma said his party was opposed to the biometric voters’ roll alleging that it will be used by the ruling Zanu-PF to rig elections.
“I am not only speaking as the president of the Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe, but as the vice-chairperson of coalition for democrats which comprises six parties, and our position is that we don’t want the voters roll. We want people to vote using their national identity cards because we know it (voters roll) has failed the test that it must pass,” said Mr Mangoma.
He said a voters roll must be inclusive, exhaustive, accessible to people and auditable. “The old voters roll and the proposed biometric voters roll fails on all four counts and therefore we don’t want it. In 2013 referendum we used our identity cards and that did not nullify the results,” said Mr Mangoma. Zec chairperson Justice Rita Makarau however, said the election body was crafting a new voter’s roll to replace the existing one and eligible voters who failed to register in the exercise to be conducted by the commission next year would not be eligible to vote in the 2018 harmonised elections. Justice Makarau said the new voter registration system was likely to start in May next year. She said the polling stationbased voter registration exercise would, among other issues, result in the reduction in the number of ballot papers per polling station and reduce chances of double voting.
She added that the reforms, some of which were mandatory, were driven by the new constitution, recommendations from observer missions in previous elections as well as constructive engagement with stakeholders. Justice Makarau said Zec was ready to engage stakeholders and political parties on a monthly basis with a view to build trust and confidence in the electoral process. Among those who attended the workshop are Members of Parliament who include Cde Tafanana Zhou (Zanu-PF), Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga (MDC), Jessie Majome and Innocent Gonese (MDC-T).