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Zimbabwe
Election Watch Issue No. 9
Sokwanele
October 23, 2007
http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/sokwanele/zew_issue9_23october2007.html
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Executive
Summary
"True democracy
can only be restored in Zimbabwe if we restore genuine, democratic
elections and restore an electoral environment that will allow free
and fair elections to take place."
This concept
is central to RESTORE
2, a document compiled by The Zimbabwe Institute (ZI) to provide
a blueprint for the restoration of democracy in Zimbabwe.
Its precursor,
RESTORE, was launched in 2004 following the signing of the SADC
Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections by heads
of state in Mauritius.
The ZI document,
signed by Brian Raftopoulos, chairman, and Isaac Maposa, director,
defines elections as a process, not as an event. It stipulates that,
to ensure free and fair elections, Zimbabwe has to:
1. Restore
the rule of law
2. Restore basic freedoms and rights
3. Establish a genuinely independent electoral commission
4. Restore public confidence in the electoral process
5. Restore the secrecy of the ballot.
The events highlighted
in this issue of Zimbabwe Election Watch - and in all the preceding
issues - demonstrate that a free and fair election cannot take place
in the existing electoral environment.
In fact the
political violence perpetrated by the ruling Zanu PF party has now
become so serious and blatant that the Movement for Democratic (MT)
has written to the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
to "register concern over the violent crackdown against its
supporters . . . "
The letter notes
that a total of 103 rallies and marches have been crushed, while
seven murders, 18 rapes, 69 abductions, 459 cases of torture, 2
323 cases of interference or intimidation, 1 141 cases of assault
and 152 cases of unlawful detention have been recorded.
Women
of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), an apolitical social justice movement,
presented a damning
report in South Africa and said the Mugabe regime was behaving
like "a militia or a warlord". The group said there was
no possibility of free and fair elections next year.
The political
climate has become so hostile and chaotic that armed riot police
stormed a hotel in Masvingo and arrested a group of MDC women while
they were having lunch. The group was accused of holding an illegal
meeting.
Yet again police
have severely assaulted and injured members of the National
Constitutional Assembly for attempting a protest march to Parliament.
There has been
a fresh wave of violence reportedly ignited by Zanu PF councillors
in the southeastern district of Chipinge, while in the MDC stronghold
of KweKwe, homes were destroyed by heavily armed police using sledgehammers.
A Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) plan outlining Zanu PF's vote rigging strategy
has been exposed. It includes mechanisms for maintaining control
of rural areas, vote buying and targeting journalists, opposition
members and civil society leaders that are under surveillance.
A leading member
of the independent Zimbabwe
Liberators' Platform has dismissed the ongoing pro Mugabe marches
by war veterans as "scare tactics to ward off opposition."
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