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This article participates on the following special index pages:
2002 Presidential & Harare Municipal elections - Index of articles
Conditions
in the immediate pre-election period in Harare and Chitungwisa
The
Civic Alliance for Social and Economic Progress (CASEP)
March 04, 2002
On the basis
of information provided by members, civil society organizations
in the Civic Alliance for Social and Economic Progress call for
a number of measures to be addressed in the next week towards the
forthcoming electoral process:
- Clear and
accurate information to be disseminated widespread to voters on
where they are supposed to vote
- Clear information
to be disseminated to Harare voters on constituency and ward boundaries
and polling stations to ensure that neither their councilor, mayoral
or presidential votes are prejudiced
- Intensified
voter education and information on what documents are needed for
voting and on voting procedures through government, parties, media
and civil society
- Intensified
public information on the secrecy of the vote backed by clear
information and signals on how the security of voters and of vote
secrecy will be assured
- A halt to
the confiscation, destruction and burning of information, newspapers,
posters
- A halt to
the violent obstruction of information flow to voters
- Clear and
urgent feedback on the accreditation of local observers and a
halt to violent or other obstruction of the work of all observers
Within Harare
and Chitungwisa, for example, civic organization members have reported
the following problems in the pre-election period with sufficiently
high frequency for them to be matters of serious concern:
- Difficulties
experienced during voter registration, especially by young voters
due to requirements for proof of residence for registration
- Inadequate
voter education, particularly to youth and particularly on voting
procedures
- Disruption
of voter education due to violent disruption of public gatherings
- A high level
of voter uncertainty a week before the election on where the polling
stations will be, where to vote, how the joint council/ mayoral/
presidential voting procedures will be managed and what documents
to bring for voting.
- Voter perception
of inadequate information on and visibility of measures for protection
of voter security and vote secrecy
- Weak presence
of observers and obstruction of observer activities by violence
- Obstruction
of campaigning by and information from political parties
- Obstruction
of information access through destruction and confiscation of
newspapers.
The Civic
Alliance for Social and Economic Progress (CASEP) is a network
of membership based civic organisations operating in key areas of
social and economic activity, including ZURA, Zimrights,
CWGH, ZCTU,
PSA, ZIMTA, ZINASU and MMPZ.
CASEP can be
contacted at 708835/705108 email tarsc@mweb.co.zw
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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