by Munetsi Madakufamba – SANF 05 no 22
Although there are three southern African countries that have held elections since the SADC electoral guidelines and principles were adopted in August last year, Zimbabwe becomes the first country to significantly embrace the new regional declaration ahead of parliamentary elections on 31 March 2005.
Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique went to polls in October, November and December respectively. There was very little mention of whether or not any of these countries had made any specific reforms, electoral or otherwise, in line with the SADC Guidelines and Principles Governing Democratic Elections, adopted by SADC leaders at the Ordinary Summit in Mauritius on 17 August 2004.
Zimbabwe’s recent electoral reforms, which are in line with the SADC guidelines and standards, have changed the electoral landscape for the better. Zimbabwe has in recent months repealed its old electoral acts, adopting the Electoral Commission Act and the Electoral Act, as well as other electoral regulations.
These acts guide the operations of the country’s electoral institutions, namely the Delimitation Commission which marks constituency boundaries; the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission which is a new independent authority to administer elections and referendums; and the Electoral Supervisory Commission charged with supervising registration of voters and the conduct of elections.
In particular, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, chaired by High Court Judge George Chiweshe with four other commissioners, has been hailed as a step forward in comparison with previous elections.
Like in a number of SADC countries, the president appoints the commission chairperson in consultation with the Judicial Service Commission, while, in the case of Zimbabwe, the four other commissioners are appointed by the president from a list of seven nominees submitted by a multi-party Parliamentary Committee. The law requires that two of the four commissioners must be women.
In addition to national electoral bodies staffed by qualified personnel, the SADC electoral guidelines and standards call for “competent legal entities including effective constitutional courts to arbitrate in the event of disputes arising from the conduct of elections”.
In accordance with Zimbabwe’s new electoral laws, an Electoral Petitions Court of three High Court Judges was appointed last month. This is another commendable move that will ensure that election petitions are dealt with in time. As of February 2005, there were more than 30 pending election petitions from the 2000 parliamentary elections.
In terms of levelling the playing field, two other pieces of legislation are in line with the SADC declaration. The Political Parties (Finance) Act stipulates that political parties with at least five percent of total votes in the most recent election qualify for state funding.
The two main political parties, the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which meet this requirement, recently received their grants.
Similarly, the government last month gazetted regulations governing political parties’ access to the electronic media during the forthcoming parliamentary election. This is a positive development and a departure from a tradition where the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) used to set its own guidelines for implementation during elections.
Other changes adopted by the government to enhance transparency, credibility and confidence, and thus minimise chances of electoral fraud, include the reduction of voting period from two days to one day, and the use of translucent ballot boxes. In recent elections, Zimbabwe has been using locally manufactured wooden ballot boxes.
Vote counting will now be done at polling stations, a move to ensure that ballot boxes cannot be staffed during transportation as previously alleged. Observers are also obliged to issue their preliminary reports before election results are announced.
The police have launched a major clampdown on violence in the pre-election period, ensuring relative calm and free campaigning by supporters of all contesting parties.
“The political climate prior to the election has witnessed less overt political violence,” says the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN), one of the local observer groups.
According to ZESN, the incidents of political violence were largely of intra-party nature for both of the main parties, ZANU PF and MDC. “Parliamentary hopefuls waged fierce contestations against each other in their bid to win the party’s primary elections held in mid-January,” it says in a pre-election report.
Zimbabwe has invited more than 30 groups and individual countries to observe its fifth parliamentary election since independence. The African Union (AU), SADC, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations are among the inter-governmental organisations invited.
South Africa’s African National Congress, Mozambique’s Frelimo and Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi are invited, as is Russia, the only European country to be invited. All Zimbabwe-based diplomats wishing to observe the elections are being accredited.
The SADC Observer group is headed by South Africa’s home affairs minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. South Africa is the current chair of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
A conspicuous absentee from the list of observer groups is the SADC Parliamentary Forum, which has reacted angrily to this development, saying it has been observing elections in SADC countries since 1999.
Commenting on the issue, South African government spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa was quoted by local media as saying that it has to be a matter of record that the SADC Parliamentary Forum is not an official structure of SADC.
“The SADC Parliamentary Forum therefore has no locus standi (legal standing) in terms of official SADC structures,” he said. “… Zimbabwe has invited the national parliaments of SADC member states, which will allow for report backs to sovereign national parliaments post (after) the elections. On the other hand, the SADC Parliamentary Forum would have no fora to report back on its findings to,” he added.
Zimbabwe’s five political parties are contesting for 120 of the 150 seats in the national legislative house. The 30 non-constituency seats are filled by 10 chiefs elected by the Council of Chiefs, 10 provincial governors (appointed by the president) and 10 other presidential appointments.
In the 2000 parliamentary elections, ZANU PF won 62 seats while MDC garnered 57. A small, regionally based party won one seat. A total of 16 by-elections have since occurred leaving the ZANU PF:MDC current ratio at 68:51 seats.
The country’s parliamentary elections are contested every five years while the presidential poll comes every six years, with the next one due in 2008. (SARDC)
