by Bayano Valy – SANF 08 No 12
With less than two weeks left to the 29 March harmonised Zimbabwe elections, the presidential candidates, parties and independent contestants are smoothing out their political operations in an attempt to woo voters.
There are four presidential candidates. Three of them are trying to unseat incumbent President Robert Mugabe: they are Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC); Simba Makoni, former finance minister; and political debutante Langton Towungana. Makoni and Towungana are running as independents.
President Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party are campaigning under the motto “Defending our Land and National Sovereignty: Building Prosperity through Empowerment”.
At the launch of the party manifesto two weeks ago President Mugabe told party cadres and supporters: “Let’s be guided by our theme that looks at what we have already as a gain; the land, the land, the independence; and further enjoins us to look after it, after that which we have already gained; defending our land and national sovereignty.”
Although land was the most important resource in Zimbabwe, it was not enough to just defend and protect it, warned Mugabe, adding that that was the reason why his government had embarked on a drive to empower farmers with farming implements in the three phases of the farm mechanisation programme.
For his part, Tsvangirai and MDC are running their campaign on the theme of “A New Beginning”. However, due to disagreements over handling and direction of the party, voters will be treated to two MDCs on the ballot paper, with similar logos: one led by Tsvangirai and another by Prof Arthur Mutambara. However, this will only affect ballot papers for council, house of assembly and senate elections as Mutambara is not running for presidency.
Tsvangirai said on the launch of MDC’s manifesto that “the challenge for the MDC is to craft an alternative human-centred, auto-centric economic programme that is based on domestic demands, use of local resources, domestic savings and people-based regional integration.”
Driving the economic programme would be a new body, the Zimbabwe Economic Development Council, which is part of MDC’s Restart strategy. “Restart still remains our fundamental economic recovery vehicle whose key tenet is a strong social democratic state,” Tsvangirai said.
Not to be outdone, Simba Makoni said that his government would develop a policy framework for economic and social renewal, in the short, medium and long terms. “I will re-engage key national constituencies, namely youth, women, workers, students, employers, rural and urban people, with the state in national development,” Makoni said. “I will implement gender policies to ensure equal rights and opportunities for both men and women.”
Makoni said land reform in the country was necessary and if elected, he would ensure a transparent and equitable process of reform. “I will review the current land tenure systems as a means of rationalising and refining the land reform and stimulating productivity. I will also revive agricultural production through programmes to ensure that agricultural inputs and other resources are available.”
Towungana who has fallen off the media radar has yet to present a manifesto, although he said in his one media interview that he believes he will win. He added that he sees no need to campaign because “God is on my side”.
Zimbabwe has held elections according to its constitution, at regular intervals since Independence in 1980. Previously, the presidential elections took place every six years and parliamentary poll every five years. But the harmonisation means that all elections will take place on the same day, every five years.
This involves voting for candidates for the president, senate, national assembly and council. There will be four ballot papers of different colours.
According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) — the official election administrator — there are 779 candidates for the 210 seats in the lower House of Assembly, and 197 aspirants for the 60 elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, from 12 political parties and 116 independents.
Meanwhile, ZEC has said that it will deploy 107,690 polling officers who will oversee voting in 11,000 polling stations throughout the country.
Zimbabwe’s electorate is estimated at around 5.6 million voters out of a population of around 13 million.
The harmonising of the elections is in line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections that recommend the holding of elections in one single day.
The guidelines were adopted at the SADC Summit in August 2004 in Mauritius, and intend to provide a roadmap for the conduct of polls in the region. Although elections were held in three of the regional countries in 2004 soon after adoption of the guidelines, it was during the 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections that they were first incorporated and meaningfully tested.
Fast forward to 2008. Zimbabwe has yet again ensured that more elements of the principles are reflected in its electoral laws by amending the Electoral Act. More significantly, the amendments have opened the way for the establishment of one independent electoral body, the ZEC, charged with running the country’s polls – rather than having three bodies as in the past.
One section of the amended Act, Part IVA, deals specifically with the issue of media coverage of elections. This section explains that, where inconsistencies arise, Part IVA of the Act shall prevail over the Broadcasting Services Act, and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
The SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM), the region’s main observer mission, is already in the country.
