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Debate on the proposed electoral reforms continues
Zimbabwe
Election Support Network
September 15, 2011
ZESN held 4
workshops in the Midlands province from the 6th to the 9th of September
2011 in four constituencies namely Silobela, Vungu, Kwekwe and Redcliff.
The workshops
sought to achieve the following;
- To educate
people on the contents of the gazetted Electoral
Amendment Bill
- To enable
communities to debate on the proposed electoral reforms
- To cultivate
a culture of political tolerance and respect of divergent political
views.
- To introduce
participants to the concept of citizen participation and its importance.
Attendance
for the workshops:
| Constituency |
Participants |
Males |
Females |
| Silobela |
36 |
23 |
13 |
| Vungu |
40 |
24 |
16 |
| Kwekwe |
93 |
33 |
60 |
| Redcliff |
50 |
22 |
28 |
Issues
raised during the workshops:
- Participants
felt that the proposed Electoral Bill does not address the issue
of violence adequately and does not have convincing structures
and measures to deal with perpetrators of political violence.
- Some participants
in Silobela and Vungu castigated local traditional leaders for
their partisan involvement in the country's political activities.
- There was
general consensus that youth participation in civic matters was
limited and participants encouraged ZESN to conduct mobilization
drives to encourage youth participation.
- On the state
of the voters' roll, Silobela participants suggested that
traditional leaders should take the lead in the registration of
deaths so that deceased people can be removed from the roll.
- Participants
in all four workshops agreed that although the Polling station
based voting system is good, Zimbabwe is not ready to implement
the system given the violent and intimidatory nature of elections
in the country.
- Regarding
the Presidential
Powers Temporary Measures Act, Kwekwe participants highlighted
that it gave unfair advantage to the incumbent and should be removed
to level the electoral playing field.
Visit the ZESN
fact
sheet
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