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The specter of elections and the struggle for a democratic constitution
Dr
Lovemore Madhuku, National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
May 09, 2007
The
context of debate for democracy in Zimbabwe has been for the past
few weeks dominated by developments from the SADC Defense and Security
Committee meeting held in Tanzania. Amongst the several resolutions
of the committee was the appointment of South African President,
Thabo Mbeki as mediator in the Zimbabwean crisis. A rallying point
to this mediation is the push to have legislative, administrative
and executive elections in 2008. This arrangement would necessitate
a constitutional amendment to allow for the re-scheduling of legislative
elections from 2010, when they were due, to 2008. The same would
be the case for local government elections.
A starting point
to this process would be the facilitation of negotiations between
the political party protagonists. Indications are there that the
process of creating ground for the negotiations, if at all they
are to happen, is taking place. A lot of popular debate is shifting
toward contemplation for an election in the coming year.
The NCA however
affirms its position that outside a facilitation of an inclusive
objective national process of building sustainable democratic systems,
based on respect of fundamental rights and dignity of all Zimbabweans,
negotiations or mediation efforts serve nothing but buy time for
those strangling the nation and its people. Peace and an end to
state terrorism are moral pre-conditions for a mutual dialogue.
No mutual mediation can be said to take place when campaigners of
freedom and continue to endured punitive detention and prosecution.
National dialogue
is critically important in the formulation of such mediation and
dialogue. Instruments which allow for national dialogue should be
put in place, whilst those that restrict informed public participation
in national debate and processes must be removed. This includes
the repeal of anti-democracy laws such as Access
to Information and Protection of Publicity Act and Public
Order and Security Act.
The NCA believes a genuine people driven constitution should be
the basis for any election and critical departure point for a democratic
order.
The rules governing
national life need a fundamental overhaul to allow for democratic
existence of Zimbabweans. With regards to the elections/transition
debate, a number of issues are noted. The Assembly is not so much
interested in who will win or lose the elections as it is in having
a legitimate national framework which allows for all Zimbabweans
to exercise all their rights as full citizens. Issues informing
our position include, but are not limited to:
- Citizenship
- a number of Zimbabweans including farm workers, those
in the Diaspora, former holders of dual citizenship will be excluded
from the electoral franchise. The Assembly's draft constitution
suggests that all Zimbabweans should have their citizenship rights
respected and honored, and that all Zimbabweans of voting age
should be part of the electoral franchise
- Zimbabwe
is a constituency based electoral system. With the population
displacements caused by government's Operation
Murambatsvina, coupled with the urban poverty motivated rural
drift a number of urban voters will find themselves unregistered
and unable to vote in the rural and peri-urban centres which have
become their new settlements. With estimates pointing at an estimated
2million displaced voters unable to vote, the scales are tilted
in favor of the incumbent regime. The Assembly believes that voter
registration should be an on-going national process that does
not create room for the exclusion of any Zimbabwean of voting
age from participating in national elections as a result of objective
factors of human mobility.
- A token
Electoral Court system - the High Court acts as an electoral
court, with electoral cases having to fall on the same queuing
system as other legal cases to be decided. From experience, we
have seen some cases being heard way after the term of office
in question has expired, disenfranchising candidates and constituencies
of legitimate representation. Voters' rolls in many cases
are yet to be availed for public inspection owing to failure to
decide by the electoral courts or the executive's lack of
respect for court decisions. The Assembly underlines that a system
of legitimate legal recourse by all stakeholders, including candidates
and voters, is key to any electoral query and fundamental to a
legitimate election system
- Electoral
Commission - its independence is in question having been
set up through presidential appointment to preside over elections
in which the same President is a candidate. Its mandate undermines
the participation of citizens in electoral issues. It has the
sole mandate to provide voter education, a key tool in promoting
a free and fair electoral enterprise. The Assembly believes in
the un-diminishing right and obligation of citizens to participate
and promote free and fair elections through embarking on strategies
and exercises that ensure fellow citizens exercise their right
to elect leaders best suited to represent them. Civil society
and individuals should be allowed to provide voter education and
other attendant activities necessary for a substantive electoral
system.
- First Past
the Post system - we have a winner takes all election, which
means the expressions of a significant number of voting citizens
is excluded in the determination of electoral results in favor
of the majority expression. This process means all those who vote
for a losing candidate's votes are meaningless, and their
expression should be ignored. The Assembly's draft constitution
advocated for a system that allows for the fusion of the first-past-the-post
and proportional representation, meaning there is no exclusionary
leakages of voters' expression from a national election
and therefore allowing for a more representative electoral result
system.
- State Policy
issues - tacitly or actively, the state has been a perpetrator
of violence against the people. The state has a responsibility
of ensuring that the national culture of violence and impunity
is eliminated and replaced with one of tolerance and goodwill.
Policy issues incongruent with open democracy include the use
of food aid as political tools; use of the national security organs
for 'non' state issues (in many cases as extensions
of personal militias) and in meting political violence; use of
traditional administrative systems for political party consolidation
(the ruling party has been using chiefs and headmen as party stewards
in driving rural populations into support bases. The Assembly
believes state policies must be objective and state institutions,
including traditional administrative systems must be free of political
party interference and have a national character that is not driven
by patronage to one or any political party.
Key national
issues can not be left for political party elites only to decide.
The nation must dialogue with itself and institutionalize the foundations
on which its political, social and economic systems are to be based.
The period we find ourselves in if strategically used, provides
space for us to write a constitution which allows for sustainable
democracy providing roots for a culture of good and accountable
governance, political and economic systems that are just, and a
social system that promotes human dignity, equality and freedom
for all. These are not issues to be left only for political party
manifestos, but should be a result of a thorough public participation
exercise of all our people.
Dr Lovemore
Madhuku
National Chairperson
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Constitutional Assembly fact
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