Reform all electoral systems first

CITIZENS in Action Southern Africa (CIASA) applauds the proclamation of byelections by President Mnangagwa in terms of section 39(2) of the Electoral Act which are to be held on March 26, 2022 with the nomination court sitting on January 26 2022.

The proclamation is for filling 28 vacancies in the National Assembly, which arose as a result of deaths and recalls of representatives of those constituencies and 105 local authority seats.

While the gazetting of by-elections date is welcome given the vitality of elections to Zimbabwe’s constitutional democracy, there are a number of concerns which must be raised and addressed by the relevant duty bearers and power holders.

First, the critical issue of outstanding electoral and political reforms remains unattended to, which is a serious indictment on Parliament as the law-making arm of the State.

Various observer missions recommended a number of reforms which are needed to make elections in Zimbabwe free, fair, credible and verifiable.

These reforms address key electoral issues such as structure and composition of the management of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), ballot paper design, printing and movement, availability of an auditable voters’ roll, voter registration and inspection and announcement of results, among others.

There is also need for constitutional alignments in the Electoral Act, all these have not been done yet we are heading for a minigeneral election.

Second, there is need to implement the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission report recommendations on post-election violence by bringing the culprits to book and compensating victims.

Failure to bring those responsible to book encourages future violations by political activists and State security arms.

In addition, there is need to demilitarise the electoral process as well as Zec by removing all serving members of the military from the logistics committee of the commission.

Third, heavy fortification of Zec offices across the country by State security services belies the independence and impartiality of the commission as one of the Chapter 12 institutions that support democracy, and also discourages interface between the commission and citizens as State security agents have a history of terrorising citizens.

Fourth, there is need to ensure that the public media is non-partisan and all voices are afforded space to air out their views.

Currently, only the ruling party is afforded space on public media platforms while the opposition is given token space and is often the target of hate speech and inflammatory content.

Further, there is need to guarantee the security of citizens, especially women who are more vulnerable during elections.

At the end of 2021, we saw violence breaking out in areas the main opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa was visiting.

The violence resulted in dozens getting injured and one person losing their life in Gutu.

This is very worrisome, especially when law enforcement authorities refuse to investigate known suspects who are members of the ruling party.

CIASA also encourages Zec to intensify voter registration by rolling out more centres of registration, priority at the moment being given to areas with pending by-elections.

Voter education must also be prioritised and Zec must evolve its voter education methods to cater for young people and other interest groups.

CIASA welcomes the proclamation of by-elections, but notes that outstanding reforms must be urgently implemented so that the process is free, fair, credible and verifiable.

CIASA will be commencing long-term observation of the election environment across the country and avail regular updates on the electoral environment.