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Catholic rights group says Zimbabwean polls not free and fair
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
April 22, 2005

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6BPHTE?OpenDocument&rc=1&cc=zwe

HARARE- A prominent Roman Catholic rights group in Zimbabwe said in a report released Friday that last month's parliamentary elections won by President Robert Mugabe's ruling party were not free and fair.

"What is certain is that these elections were played out on a grossly uneven playing field," the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) said in a 114-page report released in Harare.

The group cited biased media coverage favouring the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in the run-up to the March 31 elections, repressive laws and poll bodies whose neutrality was in doubt.

"Polling day was remarkably peaceful in comparison to previous elections," the report said. "But beneath the calm, however, lurked the spectre of intimidation and fear of reprisal."

The report listed 25 polling stations which were located in "non-neutral areas" including chiefs' homesteads and an army camp.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF, in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, won an overwhelming majority in the elections that were endorsed by observer missions from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and South Africa as a "reflecting the will of the people."

But the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change condemned the polls as "a massive fraud" and has filed petitions asking the electoral court to have results from 13 constituencies nullified.

"We are saying in the report we cannot judge the elections to be free and fair because of the various concerns raised," said the commission's director Alouis Chaumba told AFP.

"To say the conditions were conducive for free polls based on improvements observed a few weeks before the polls would be missing the point," said Chaumba.

South African President Thabo Mbeki said last week that his government would study reports from the opposition and various civic and church groups before making a final judgment on whether the vote was credible.

The report from the Catholic church group said that ZANU-PF threatened to deny food aid to voters in rural areas unless they voted for its candidates.

The CCJP also noted that Zimbabwe's Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede "a contentious figure and an open supporter of ZANU PF," was still in charge of the voters roll.

"A particular concern focusses on the role in rural areas of traditional leaders who are paid by the state to bolster the support of the ruling party," the report said.

"Not only were voters obliged to vote, often shepherded by local leaders, but were told who to vote for."

Zimbabwe's parliamentary polls were closely watched to gauge Zimbabwe's commitment to adhere to SADC principles on the conduct of free and fair elections

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