by Munetsi Madakufamba – SANF 05 no 38
There is clear unanimity among election observers of Zimbabwe’s 2005 parliamentary polls, especially on the question of whether or not the environment was conducive for people to freely exercise their democratic right to elect their preferred leadership.
The African Union Observer Mission said in a statement, “… it is the view of the team that, at the point of ballot, the elections were held in a peaceful and orderly manner,” adding that “the polling arrangements made it possible for the voters to freely choose their preferred candidates by casting a secret ballot”.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Observer Mission, the biggest intergovernmental group with 55 members, concurred.
In a preliminary report, SADC congratulated the “people of Zimbabwe for peaceful, transparent, credible, and well-managed elections, which reflect the will of the people”.
The Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries, made up of electoral management bodies, was more precise saying the elections were “free and fair”.
Zimbabwe’s sixth parliamentary elections were observed by more than 30 groups with some of them deploying teams in all of the country’s 10 provinces over periods ranging from one week to two weeks. There were also hundreds of local observers, as well as scores of local and international journalists.
Other observer groups that commended the elections were government teams from countries such as Malawi, South Africa and Zambia.
The ruling Zanu PF party clinched a two-thirds majority seats in parliament, winning 78 of the 120 contested seats while the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) garnered 41. Jonathan Moyo, the former Minister of Information and Publicity who was an Independent won his closely contested Tsholotsho constituency.
However, the MDC has rejected the results citing “serious discrepancies” in official figures released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the independent body in charge of running the elections. The opposition party has also said it could not have been possible to hold free and fair elections under the current constitution.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has called on his supporters to “pressurise the regime into reversing this electoral fraud.” Upon learning of its defeat, the party immediately started distributing literature, urging supporters to resort to mass action.
However, observers said they were not able to verify complaints and allegations that were brought to their attention and urged political parties to use the Electoral Court, recently established along with several other legal reforms in line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections in the region.
The SADC mission said they “received 10 complaints from the opposition party alleging covert intimidations, use of food as political tool, delays in authorising rallies, access to state media, lack of compliance with the SADC Guidelines, inflated voters roll and unlawful arrests.”
The mission said they “followed up all the allegations with the relevant institutions and feedback was given to the complainant.”
President Robert Mugabe said that his government would use the country’s laws to deal with any illegal activities in the post election phase. He dismissed Tsvangirai’s call for mass action as a “political statement they (MDC) have to make in face of defeat.”
In their preliminary report, the SADC observers said, “It is strongly recommended that, once all the facts have been gathered, they should be presented to the Electoral Court for determination.”
They added that, “However, these complaints and allegations do not compromise the will of the people of Zimbabwe.”
The polling process, from the campaign trail, voting and vote counting, was characterised by a remarkable climate of peace. This was in sharp contrast with the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002 presidential polls, which were marred by violence.
The climate of peace was attributed to several factors including the leadership of all the contesting parties who spoke strongly against violent behaviour during their campaign trail. The police were also commended for responding swiftly in dealing with trouble-makers, “without fear or favour”.
In addition, the smooth and efficient manner in which the elections were run left observers full of praise.
“The electoral staff were very professional and well trained,” said South African Minerals and Energy Minister, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who headed the SADC observer mission.
She added, “They (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) did not run out of materials, which happens in my country. The polls opened on time, which does not always happen in my country. And at all polling stations, they had people who spoke all three languages. That does not happen in my country.”
The AU mission was equally full of praise, commending the election officials for “executing the elections in a technically competent and transparent manner”.
The observers however, outlined a number of issues which they recommend for further improvement.
Issues that featured frequently in the observer reports relate to the need to allow more access to the public media by the opposition, and strengthening of voter registration and voter education in order to avoid a situation where too many voters are turned away as was the case.
“Almost everywhere that members of our team visited, several prospective voters could not find their names on the roll and were turned away from the polls,” noted the AU.
“There is need to improve civic education in relation to voter registration and educate voters about the significance of registering and inspecting the voters’ roll,” suggested Namibia’s Victor Tonchi who headed the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries.
Just under 50 percent of the 5.8 million registered voters cast their ballot on 31 March.
The SADC observer mission called for a “spirit of cooperation and political tolerance and the responsible role of political parties” in the post election phase, adding that this is critical to reenergize the “momentum of nation building and reconciliation”. (SARDC)
