Source: Zim inching towards disputed polls – DailyNews Live
16 March 2018
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s 2018 harmonised elections are likely to be disputed if
no effort is made to strengthen democratic institutions and laws that
govern elections.
Already there are special voting blocs that are raising the red flag,
among them those living in the Diaspora, prisoners, the
physically-challenged who feel government and, in particular the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (Zec), is marginalising them.
Zimbabweans adopted a new Constitution in 2013 which if aligned to the law
would facilitate easy access to voting by these marginalised groups but
four years down the line, government has refused to align the Electoral
Act with the supreme law.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans who live in the Diaspora, having
run away from the failing economy in the past decade will not be able to
vote in 2018 as government insists they have to come back to Zimbabwe to
vote.
While the country has provisions for a postal ballot or out-of-country
voting, this is not meant for all people living outside Zimbabwe but only
for those out of the country on national duty.
Although the Constitution grants political rights to prisoners, the
country’s inmates will not be allowed to vote in this year’s elections.
Last year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was then Justice minister,
while responding to a question during Parliament’s question and answer
session said convicted people who are behind bars are not eligible to vote
as they have forfeited their fundamental rights.
He added that the concept of prison is that once you have committed a
crime you forfeit the rights of a free person.
During the 2013 elections an estimated 17 000 inmates where denied the
right to vote with Zec arguing there wasn’t adequate time to put in place
logistics required for them to cast their ballot. An equal number may not
be able to vote again this year.
Zec, while acknowledging that Chapter 4, Section 4.18 of the new charter
states that every Zimbabwean has the right to vote, said they did not have
mechanisms for prisoners to vote in this year’s elections.
On the other hand, thousands of blind Zimbabweans will have to be assisted
to vote because Zimbabwe’s voting system does not provide for Braille
ballot papers.
The Council for the Blind Zimbabwe says an estimated 125 000 people in
Zimbabwe are blind and twice that number are visually impaired.
Because of the absence of Braille ballot papers, the electoral law says
blind voters are assisted to vote by officers presiding over polling
stations, in the presence of a police officer and agents of contesting
political parties.
But opposition parties have in the past accused the ruling Zanu PF of
using assisted voters to steal votes. This comes as the number of assisted
voters in the country’s previous elections has been contentious, due to
vote-rigging fears.
In fact, right from political campaigns to the day of voting, there is
absolutely no literature in Braille.
While according to the UN, Zimbabwe is the most literate country in Africa
with a literacy rate of more than 90 percent, in 2013 elections AU
observers noted a worryingly “high number of assisted voters in many
polling stations nationwide”.
Assisted voting is intended to help the illiterate or the infirm cast
their ballots. Suspiciously, at least 200 000 – most of them claiming to
be illiterate – were assisted to vote in the 2013 poll.
The electoral system in the country is hostile to people living with
disabilities both as candidates and voters.
Apart from the blind, there are other disabled groups who have also
complained about the size of the voting booth which they cannot access
easily.
There are also the deaf and dumb who need direction on voting day, hence
the need to engage sign language experts at polling stations, something
which has to be addressed.
The 2018 election also comes in the wake of outstanding irregularities as
raised by regional and local observers such as the Southern African
Development Community (Sadc), the African Union, and the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), based on observations from the 2013
elections.
In that light, election stakeholders, particularly civil society
organisations and political parties have continuously called for
comprehensive reforms towards peaceful, free, fair and credible electoral
processes with the emphasis on legislative, environmental and
administrative frameworks that will guide the polls.
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