Study questions ZEC’s credibility in handling polls

By Agencies

A NEW study on Zimbabwe’s electoral politics, processes and institutions has found that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is deeply distrusted by voters, hence cannot be trusted to preside over free, fair, transparent, credible and legitimate elections.

The new study titled Electoral Politics in Zimbabwe, Volume I: The 2023 Election and Beyond, edited by local academics Esther Mavengano and Sophia Chirongoma, says Zec is captured, compromised and unfit to hold free and fair elections.

Says the study: “The most important factor in ensuring credible elections in Zimbabwe is by promoting a transparent Independent Commission.

“There is no way elections can be free and fair, while the commission is accused of being aligned with the ruling party, State President and Constitutional Court. 

“Zimbabwe needs an independent electoral commission that is ready to uphold the fundamental principles of democracy and rule of law. Zec should be independent from the Government of Zimbabwe, political parties or individuals or groups interested in election results.”

As a result of Zec’s partisan role, dysfunctionality and incompetence, the 23 August general elections are likely to be disputed again.

Elections in Zimbabwe have since 2000 been disputed due to Zec’s professional and operational failures, irregularities, coercion, violence and manipulation.

The study says: “The 2023 Zimbabwean elections could witness another sad electoral history of having disputed elections and accusation of rigging unless Zec presents transparency in its handling of the elections to the satisfaction of the electorate.

“The Government of Zimbabwe should ensure Zec is allocated adequate funding to initiate the voter registration and election preparations in time.

“The commission should have financial independence after the annual budget is announced so as to promote effectiveness of its performance and independence.

“The prevailing economic and political environment in Zimbabwe po ints to a very volatile election in 2023 if the government does not put a conducive environment in place.”
The research also says there is a need for professional and impartial resolution of electoral disputes by the judiciary.

“In addition, the government and the judiciary should remain independent to harmonise jurisdictions arising from elections disputes.”

The study recommends that political parties and civil society continuously deploy agents to be trained by Zec to support its efforts and advance transparency.

Further, there should be research on the role of political actors in analysing the independence of Zec, it says. 

“International organisations such as the European Union should also continue to support electoral processes so as to enhance and promote transparency in elections. Local and international observers should continue monitoring the electoral environment to boost citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.”

“The research findings presented that Zec is responsible for conducting free, fair and transparent elections. All the participants acknowledged that it is the responsibility of Zec to conduct free and fair elections. “However, some of the participants cited that the commission is failing to generate uncontested election results giving reference to the case of Chamisa v. Mnangagwa constitutional petition after the 2018 elections,” the study says.

It goes on: “Respondent 2 said that ‘the Zimbabwean elections, since the inception of Zec in 2004 have been contested for their credibility’. All the participants expressed that Zec is not really performing its duty when there are always issues on the credibility of election results and the voters’ register.

“The research findings also revealed that Zec is responsible for designing, printing and distributing ballot papers to polling centres.

“However, due to hard copies, the visually impaired people fail to have equal access to the resource materials, therefore failing to cater to the needs of some disadvantaged members of the community.”

Further, the study, says: “Respondent 14 expressed concern over the provision of braille material, an issue that has long been petitioned before the Commission to address. The participants further expressed that Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, and as such should be the case on voter education information dissemination toward promoting principles of democracy. During the interview discussions, issues arose pertaining to the financial capability of the commission to conduct voter education and print materials in diverse languages in all mass media.”

-NewsHawks