Highlights of governance, legislative agenda capacity building

THE Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) was invited to attend the governance and legislative agenda capacity building workshop hosted by Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs ministry for the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad). The workshop was held in Bulawayo on October 31 and November 1, 2020.

The objective of the meeting was to impart information and enhance the knowledge on electoral reforms to the principals of the Polad. Zesn made a presentation on the Draft Comprehensive Electoral Amendment Bill which is before Parliament.

The Election Resource Centre (ERC) led a discussion on the guiding principles and benchmarks in electoral democracies while the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association presented on the participation of women in electoral processes towards a 50/50 mechanism.

Also present was the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which made a presentation on the Zimbabwe’s Electoral dispute resolution mechanisms and possible issues for reforms and alignment with the human rights centric approach and also led a discussion on operationalising the independent complaints mechanism section 210 of the Constitution: CSOs position on best practices, processes and milestones.

To ensure that Polad principals appreciate how Zesn coordinated the process of coming up with the draft Comprehensive Electoral Amendment Bill, in its presentation, Zesn highlighted the several meetings and workshops it conducted with the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Speaker of Parliament, other institutions supporting democracy, civic society organisations (CSOs) in particular those from special interest groups such as women, youth and people with disabilities, political parties and citizens.

Further, Zesn unpacked the draft Comprehensive Electoral Amendment Bill, highlighting the major issues that the Polad should understand in more detail in order to influence the electoral reform process.

In her closing remarks, coconvener of the meeting, chairperson of the Gender Commission, Margaret Sangarwe-Mukahanana, expressed appreciation to the CSOs for the knowledge gained.