1.
Voter polling station specific voter registration: The
proposed legal reforms seek to do away with the ward based voters'
roll and introduce a polling station specific voters' roll. ZESN
welcomes this reform but cautions that though this system may
make identification easier and voting quicker, in the current
politically polarized environment, there are a number of risks
that may be faced by voters such as prevention of voters from
going to vote as well as retributive polling and post voting violence
and intimidation.
Further, issues
of equity of voters have to be taken into account, some polling
stations will have more people than others and this may result
in apathy if not addressed, hence more polling centres may have
to be placed within a polling station for those places with more
voters. We advise that sufficient resources be provided to ensure
success of this re-registration and that the entire process be
done by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission with the support of
a truly independent and competent secretariat.
ZESN believes
the new voters' roll must also be open to inspection and audit
by political parties, citizens and electoral observation bodies
well ahead of any election in which it is used.
2.
The role of the police in electoral processes: The legal
reforms seek to change the role of the police officers in electoral
processes to that of maintaining law and order. It is important
to note that electoral violence in Zimbabwe does not normally
take place on polling day and so deploying huge numbers of police
officers on polling day which is usually peaceful does not address
violence that takes place before and after polling day. Electoral
violence has taken place before and after elections and the police
have not been able to protect the citizens. It is therefore important
for the law to address issues of selective application of the
law to ensure greater protection of citizens in the pre-polling,
polling and in the post polling periods.
3.
Releasing of presidential election results within 5 days:
This is an improvement from past experiences where results were
released late, however, in the past elections results were published
within 48 hours an indication that it is possible if the political
will exist. There is also need to emphasize that election results
need to be managed with transparency and openness to all relevant
stakeholders such as political party agents and observers. More
importantly those given responsibility must follow the law and
the rules strictly.
4.
Nomination processes: The uniformity in the nomination
procedures for all parties is a welcome development as political
parties should appoint and submit to ZEC not more than three authorized
persons to make nominations on its behalf. The old procedure remains
for independent candidates. ZESN welcomes this move as it reduces
the problems of duplicate candidature for one party in the same
constituency that took place in 2008 which confused voters and
resulted in unnecessary vote splitting between political parties.
5.
Accreditation of observers: ZESN is concerned that the
proposed laws remain silent on the issue of observers being invited
by the Ministry of Justice and the lack of decentralization of
the accreditation procedures. It is important that the process
of inviting and accrediting local and international observers
be the sole responsibility of ZEC. It should be transparent and
open to those willing to participate. In the past, accreditation
of domestic observers has not been very certain and they have
been accredited on the last minute. In addition, the centralization
of accreditation centres in Harare and Bulawayo only has been
a logistical nightmare for domestic observer groups. ZESN is also
concerned about the cherry-picking of international observers
which is discriminatory and exclusionary to other stakeholders
with an interest in observing the election. Zimbabwe must allow
open and transparent observation of its elections by local, regional
and international observers invited and accredited by an independent
and impartial electoral body.
6.
Special body for complaints of political violence: The
new provisions allow the Attorney-General to set a unit to prosecute
and investigate cases of politically motivated violence is an
acknowledgement of the existence of violence. ZESN is concerned
with the way in which the same office has handled cases of political
violence in the past where investigations have been delayed to
the point where justice is delayed. In addition, the politicization
of the office has been a contentious issue. The proposed laws
seek to provide for a special law that upon conviction, the court
can make a special order banning candidates from further participation
in the electoral process. The Special body is to liaise with the
police and multiparty liaison committees. ZESN welcomes these
efforts to curb politically motivated violence during electoral
processes. There is however a concern that most of the provisions
work in places where there is rule of law and equality before
the law.
The police
for example was not able to help victims of politically motivated
violence in 2008 and there is very little confidence in this body
by the citizenry as a body for their protection hence referring
cases of violence for investigation and prosecution with the institutions
that looked on as the electorate were harassed, killed and maimed
seems futile. ZESN reiterates its call on the need to reform the
security sector and the Attorney-General's office in order to
increase the confidence of the citizens. ZESN therefore reiterates
its call for reform of the security sector and the Attorney-General's
office in order to restore law and order before, during and after
elections. In the absence of such reform, the special body is
likely to fail promote and protect citizens from political violence.
7.
Postal voting: Postal voting has been problematic as
the process has been opaque and lacking in transparency. The proposed
laws provide for postal voting for people on state duty abroad
and locally. Past experience has shown that the security sector's
voting ahead of the polls has been unsupervised, unobserved (despite
many demands). In addition it has been a subject of controversy
because of allegations of forced voting for a specific candidate
and party. Issues of transparency are important from the start
to the end of the postal voting process and the process should
be open to observation.
8.
Assisted voters: In the case of illiteracy, the person
may now choose a person of their choice. While this is a welcome
development it should be extended to everyone who needs assistance.
ZESN also recommends that Braille ballot papers should be introduced
for the visually impaired to protect the secrecy of their vote
as there have been allegations of partisan presiding and polling
officers in the past elections.
9. ZESN welcomes
the removal of the police from observing assisted voters as this
has been seen to intimidate the voter and obscure free choice.
10.
Transparency in the number of ballot papers printed and distributed
to each polling station: This is a welcome development
which increases the transparency of the process. Parties agreed
to make an amendment in the Electoral Act that required ZEC to
provide to political parties and candidates participating in an
election, the number of ballots printed and distributed to each
polling station.
11.
Run-Off: The laws will continue to provide for the provision
of a run off if no candidate is able to secure 50 per cent plus
one vote to win. It is important to note that violence in 2008
occurred during the run-up to the run-off hence we call for measures
to be put in place to protect the citizens from election related
violence.
