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Can the elections in Zimbabwe be free and fair in the current environment?
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
March 20, 2008

http://www.hrforumzim.com/frames/inside_frame_special.htm

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This briefing paper describes the pre-election environment in Zimbabwe and concludes it is not possible to hold free and fair elections under the prevailing conditions.

Ingredients for a free and fair election
An election is a process, not an event. For an election to be free and fair the entire process must be free and fair. The electoral process includes the preelection period, polling day, counting of ballots, announcement of the results and acceptance thereof as well as the post-electoral period.

• All eligible persons wishing to register as voters must be permitted to do so.
• In the lead-up to an election political parties contesting the election must be able to campaign freely.
• Voters must be able to attend whatever political rallies they wish.
• The public media should be obliged to provide voters with balanced and accurate information about the political contestants in the election and all - important information about the electoral processes.
• No political party should be permitted to use violence and intimidation to force voters to vote for them against their will.
• Voters must be assured that they will not face persecution before or after they vote because of their electoral preference.
• The police force must impartially enforce electoral laws and provide protection against political intimidation.
• The body responsible for running the election must be independent and impartial and must do its utmost to ensure that the voting and counting processes are scrupulously fair and honest so that the outcome of the election will accurately reflect the preferences of the electorate.
• All voters who wish to vote in an election must be given a fair opportunity to do so.
• Foreign and local observers of the elections should be encouraged as their presence helps to reassure voters and enhance the legitimacy of the electoral process.
• The ruling party must not be permitted to use State rather than party resources to gain an unfair advantage in the election.
• The military must accept the democratic outcome of the election.

All parties, observers and monitors must agree that the following features concerned with the integrity of the election can be verified before the result can be confirmed:

• Clear, public and verifiable information on the printing, distribution and auditing of the ballot papers;
• Clear and public tabulation, verification and announcement of results following tallies at local polling stations;
• clear, explicit information on the postal votes, their numbers and their allocation through constituencies;
• No unexplained discrepancies between the figures announced by the Electoral Commission and the official results for some constituencies;
• No marked discrepancies between the numbers of people being turned away or the numbers of spoilt papers which is significant in relation to the margin of victory in constituencies.