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Consolidated
Election Climate No. 2 - March 2005
National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
March
2005
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Executive
Summary
This
report covers all the reports received by the NCA for March 2005
these are from Bulawayo, Harare, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland
East, Mashonaland West, Matebeleland North and Matabeleland South,
covering 66 Constituencies. It covers the period between 1st
and 24th March. No data had been submitted from either
Manicaland or Masvingo by the time of writing, but it is submitted
that the data nonetheless do give a good overview of the national
picture in March 2005. A total of 209 reports were submitted, with
an average of 3 reports per constituency.
As the aim of
this report is to give an overview of the election climate during
March 2005, it does not give all the details for each Province and
the related constituencies, and hence deals with the data relating
to total number of reports received [209].
The previous
Consolidated Report has received a highly negative response from
the Commissioner of Police, even though it findings were corroborated
by other reports in the public domain, and particularly from the
periodic reports being issued by the MDC, as well as the February
Monthly Monitoring Report of the Zimbabwe Peace Project. In order
to deal with some of the criticisms of the ZRP, we report the data
as a whole rather then as percentages of constituencies as previously.
This will give a more detailed understanding of the electoral climate.
Detailed reports
on each Province are available from the NCA they can be obtained
from the website www.nca.org.zw
or by requesting these copies from ncainformation@yahoo.ca
As can be seen
from the consolidated Election Irregularity [EI] ratings
[see below], no Province during March 2005, amongst those sampled,
has shown a satisfactory election climate. The worst Province amongst
those sampled was Harare, whilst Midlands Province seems the best
(see Maps
1 and 2 in Appendix I). It is evident that the trend described above
still accords with the observations of previous elections: Harare
and the Mashonaland Provinces generally have shown more frequent
instances of election irregularities than other Provinces.
Harare was particularly
bad as in most of the constituencies the EI ratings were more than
10, this shows that the battle is really in the urban areas where
the Movement for Democratic Change has been the stronger of the
two main parties since 2000, Zanu PF is confident that it has the
rural votes in the bag.
The incidents
of physical political violence remain low in comparison to the 2000
and 2002 elections but they are nonetheless still being reported.
The main political violence, however, is the form of hate speech,
threats, and intimidation, with both parties involved, but Zanu
PF is reported to be the primary instigator. Although the police
and the President have called for a violence-free election, and
this has been heeded to a great extent, the psychological damage
caused by the intimidation and threats, following several years
of actual physical violence and torture, cannot guarantee a climate
conducive to free and fair elections.
Despite the
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights 2002’s recommendation
that the militia be disbanded and the bases shut down, reports of
the bases were in made 56% of the constituencies. In the urban areas,
the bases are reported to be at public halls, beer halls, schools,
shopping centres, and other government institutions. This is something
of a change from previous elections when militia bases were generally
more likely to be found in rural areas. The presence of militia
bases is extremely important in recent Zimbabwean elections, as
there is a decided correlation between the presence of militia bases
and political violence and other irregularities in a constituency.
In view of the importance of militia, we again undertook an analysis
of the data as it relates to militia. This analysis once again showed
strong associations between the presence of militia and a wide range
of electoral irregularities: the association was not merely with
violence, but with interference with basic freedoms as well.
Voter education
is low, this is disturbing as there is a new electoral law in place
and the general public are not aware of the how this new Act will
affect them. The ignorance and confusion of the public is being
taken advantage of by the ruling party. Only 21% of the constituencies
sampled reported voter education taking place, and, in those constituencies
where voter education has taken place, this has usually been by
the political parties and to a lesser extent non governmental organisations
and churches although they are prohibited from doing so by the new
law. Voter education is now under the control and direction of the
Zimbabwe Election Commission, and the reports to date suggest that
it is seriously deficient in this aspect of its duties as only a
few constituencies reported their presence.
The reports
concerning the political use of food are also a clear cause for
concern, 75% of the constituencies sampled reported the political
use of food, with the most common report being the fact that presenting
a ZanuPF party card guarantees food supplies. In the run-up to a
highly contentious election, and in the context of a manifestly
serious humanitarian crisis, reports that food is being used as
a form of treating must be immediately investigated.
Our preliminary
findings gave enormous cause for concern, and, despite the lack
of action, we repeat our previous recommendations:
- There
must be immediate steps to remove all partisan forces from the
existing constituencies. This applies particularly to the war
veterans and the youth militia. Here the NCA would point out that
the associations between these groups and significant irregularities
are sufficiently serious to warrant immediate action.
- There
must be immediate steps to set in place an enforceable code of
conduct for these elections. Whilst both parties are implicated
in electoral irregularities, the balance of the evidence to date
suggests that ZanuPF is the major culprit, and the NCA would call
upon the Government to take immediate steps both to restrain its
supporters and to call for a consultation between all political
parties on the setting up of an enforceable code of conduct.
- In view
of the large number of allegations of continued partisan behaviour
by the law enforcement and security agencies, there must be immediate
and public action by the Government to ensure the compliance with
these agencies with the Constitution and the Statute law of Zimbabwe.
The NCA calls upon the Government to ensure that all allegations
of partisan behaviour on the part of these agencies are quickly
investigated and publicly dealt with through the courts.
- The substantial
absence of voter education, especially when these elections are
being run under a new dispensation, is a near-fatal flaw, and
underlines the reasons for the NCA repudiating these elections.
- The allegations
of partisan access to food remain deeply disturbing, especially
in the context of a serious humanitarian crisis. The NCA calls
upon the Government to immediately take steps to ensure that no
political party has any access to the possibility of providing
food relief, and to publicly demonstrate to all that food relief
is non-partisan.
There must be
doubt as to whether any steps can be taken to repair a seriously
flawed electoral process, and, apart from a peaceful day of voting,
it is the view of the NCA that this election is now so seriously
flawed that there can be absolutely no confidence in the outcome.
There can be little doubt that there has been only trivial conformity
with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections,
and that this election can be neither free nor fair, nor even a
legitimate expression of the peoples’ will.
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