by Bayano Valy and Munetsi Madakufamba – SANF 05 no 31
The run-up to Zimbabwe’s parliamentary elections on Thursday has been described as peaceful and calm, which is likely to boost the confidence of voters to turnout in large numbers at the polling stations.
The climate of peace owes much to the politicians across party lines who spoke strongly against violence during the campaign trail, and the police who moved swiftly to quell any potential trouble. The electorate responded by freely flocking to campaign rallies for the two major parties, the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
In contrast, the pre-poll period during the 2000 elections was marred by violence and allegations of intimidation and vote rigging. In that poll, over 5.1 million eligible voters had registered and the turnout was put at around 80 percent although the opposition claimed it was far lower. There were also 4,100 polling stations in 120 constituencies and the elections were run over a two-day period.
There are far more eligible voters registered for the 2005 parliamentary elections (a total of 5,789,912), and the voting period has been reduced to one day. However, the polling stations have been more than doubled to 8,256 in the same number of constituencies.
The ballot boxes have also been increased, and they are made of translucent material to dispel fears of vote stuffing raised by the opposition in the previous elections – a total of 50,000 ballot boxes have been purchased and at least three allotted for each polling station with extras kept in case there is need.
This is the sixth multi-party parliamentary election to be held in Zimbabwe since the demise of colonial rule in 1980. Prior to 1980, in the then British colony of Southern Rhodesia, the voters roll included only the white population and a handful of black citizens who were deemed worthy to vote due to their accumulation of wealth and property, both of which were out of reach of the majority of the population.
For the 2005 poll, more than 200 local observers have been accredited, as well as thousands of political party electoral agents and monitors who will be present at all polling stations. All the election officers received formal training prior to their deployment, which started early this week.
There are also more than 500 international observers, comprising the main regional mission, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the African Union. There are also observers from governments and political parties in neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania and South Africa, who were deployed throughout Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces.
The results will be announced by the Electoral Supervisory Commission from the national results centre established at the Harare International Conference Centre.
Polling stations close at 7pm and the election results should be posted within 48 hours after the last ballot has been cast.
Furthermore, Zimbabwe’s electoral laws, amended in the run-up to the poll, have contributed to creating the desired conditions for political parties to contest elections.
Zimbabwe becomes the first country to formally align its legal structure for elections with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, approved by regional leaders in August last year.
Although there were elections in Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique in late 2004, following the adoption of the SADC electoral guidelines, there was not sufficient time to comply.
Two other countries are to hold elections in 2005 — Mauritius and Tanzania, and probably Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.
The SADC Observer Mission has already said that Zimbabwe’s prepoll electoral process has complied with most of the provisions in the principles and guidelines, and hopes that the country, through the conduct of these elections, will have a positive influence in the running of future polls in the region.
There are also over 200 local and international journalists covering the elections. Coverage of the pre-election period was generally positive although some parts of the western media reported unfounded allegations of violence or political intimidation.
The head of the SADC Observer Mission, South Africa’s Pumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has said that her members, deployed in all the country’s provinces, have investigated all alleged cases of prepoll violence or intimidation and found them to be untrue.
The main issues in the pre-election campaign were land and the economy with candidates across the political spectrum only differing on the road to follow.
The ruling Zanu PF has pledged to continue revamping the economy through a combination of monetary and fiscal policy, that it hopes will continue pushing the inflation downwards.
Zanu PF believes in empowering the indigenous population so that the economy is driven by local people in partnership with foreign investors.
For its part, the MDC is looking at adopting a more outward approach through programmes that put more emphasis on foreign investors. Its Restart document emphasises that foreign assistance will play an important role in achieving macro-economic stabilisation.
Another issue which occupied centre stage was that of land. The Zanu PF government has been implementing a land reform programme of redistributing land to black Zimbabweans.
The MDC says it will drive a policy of “one farm, one family” and that it will rectify the current government land reform policy it describes as “haphazard” through rationalisation of land rights.
The accelerated land reform programme is aimed at correcting colonial injustices – most of the country’s fertile land was seized by British settlers, including the resettlement of British soldiers after World War II, and remained in the hands of some 4,500 white commercial farmers.
The land policies of the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia had advanced this skewed system that consolidated land ownership in white hands without compensation to its black owners, forced landless blacks onto poor land in crowded communal areas, and prevented most black citizens from voting.
Zimbabwe commemorates its 25th anniversary of independence on 18 April, conscious of the fact that the liberation war against Rhodesia was fought over land.
It was on the back of land invasions by impatient rural black Zimbabweans who still lived in poverty in communal areas two decades after independence, that Britain lobbied successfully to the European Union and North America to impose so-called smart sanctions and travel bans on Zimbabwe’s political leaders.
Notwithstanding, Zimbabwe continues to trade and hold cordial relations with countries within the region and Asia.
So after weeks of intense political campaigning, the electorate will finally vote for a new parliament, and candidates representing Zimbabwe’s five political parties contest 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 (who are resident ministers 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.
In the last parliamentary elections, the urban areas voted MDC while the rural areas remained the heartland of their liberation movement, Zanu PF. A similar picture seems to be building for this election, although both parties are trying to woo the voters in their area of previous weakness. (SARDC) (SARDC)
