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Statement on the elections
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
March 28, 2008

The Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition reaffirms the conclusion of the Peoples Convention, held in February 2008 in Harare (embodied in the Peoples Charter) that tomorrow's general election is illegitimate and whatever the outcome that results from that process will not be a true and legitimate expression of the democratic will of the people of Zimbabwe.

At a National Think Tank held by The Coalition on Thursday 27 March 2008, civic society deplored the recent comments by the service chiefs, particularly Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri, Commander of the Defense Forces Lieutenant General Constantine Chiwenga and Commissioner of Prisons retired General Paradzai Zimondi, affirming their resistance to and refusal of the election of any candidate other than the incumbent President Robert Mugabe.

The ruling ZANU PF party's presidential candidate, Mugabe has also used intimidatory and threatening language to the electorate which directly contravenes the Electoral Act when he told the people of Bulawayo that voting for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will be a waste of time and that he will not allow the opposition party to rule Zimbabwe, reinforcing ZANU PF's tacit philosophy that it is pre-ordained to rule this country forever because of its role in the liberation struggle.

Such statements from the Head of State and the security forces and the impunity surrounding them reinforce the widely held view that the election process is illegitimate because it is premised on a total disregard of the rule of law and the guaranteed constitutional provisions on the role of the security apparatus in the country, and also a self legitimating process for ZANU PF.

The Coalition also wants to put it on record that irrespective of the electoral system in place, any election must be administered in a transparent and accountable manner .The administrative aspects of elections cover issues to do with the number of polling stations, the type of ballot boxes to be used, number of ballot papers printed, location of polling stations, administration of queries pertaining to the polling processes and voter registration.

With a day before the crucial general election, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which is administering the polls is failing to explain to the voting public and the political contestants why it printed 9 million ballot papers when the number of registered voters stands at 5.9 million.

ZEC should also allay fears of vote manipulation by following the provisions of the Electoral Act in the counting of votes. The law says that the counting of votes should be done at the polling stations. In our view, the tabulation of votes at the so-called command centre must be done in full glare of all contesting parties under the supervision of credible observers. Anything other than this will be outright fraudulent.

It is important that ZEC addresses these issues to the satisfaction of Zimbabweans in general and the political contestants in particular. But as it stands, ZEC seems to be directed by one political contestant at the expense of others giving rise to serious contestations of the outcome as a result of the glaring partisan nature of the electoral body.

An election is enacted within a specific social, political and economic environment. It follows then that if the environment attendant to an election is unfavorable to the exercise of free choice, it makes no difference how regularly elections are held and how efficiently they are administered.

The use of colonial-type, repressive and unduly restrictive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) as well as the militarization of state institutions including ZEC which runs the elections will defeat even the most democratic of electoral systems and most efficient administrative processes.

Given the above, tomorrow's general election in the view of the Coalition will not be able to resolve the country's twin crises of legitimacy and governance at a time when Zimbabweans need an urgent return to democratic legitimacy and closure to the economic crisis ravaging its population.

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