Source: ELECTION WATCH: ERC hails parliamentary interface – DailyNews Live
7 July 2017
ELECTION Resource Centre (ERC) commends the Parliament of Zimbabwe for
convening an all-stakeholders conference on the petition on electoral
reforms submitted by the ERC and 14 other civil society organisations in
September 2015.
ERC director Tawanda Chimhini said the spirit of engagement, dialogue and
exhaustion on pertinent national issues is indeed laudable.
The conference brought together stakeholders from across the electoral
landscape in Zimbabwe to dialogue on issues raised in the petition.
This followed public hearings held in seven districts across the country
in October 2016.
“In coming up with a thorough report, reflective of the views of different
stakeholders, it was enriching to conduct broad consultations with
stakeholders. The ERC expects a subsequent report on the petition to
objectively reflect perspectives from all stakeholders.
“The ERC acknowledges opinions from different institutions who presented
at the conference.
“These were Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), the Zimbabwe Republic
Police, the Chief’s Council, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC),
the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs ministry, the Attorney
General’s office, the Information, Media and Broadcasting ministry, the
academia and fellow civil society members.
“Notwithstanding some contending views, there was general consensus on the
need for alignment and electoral reform. Speaker of the National Assembly
Jacob Mudenda aptly summed up the need for consensus building towards
achieving credible, free and fair elections,” said Chimhini.
He said it is therefore imperative to note that electoral reform is a
broad field requiring multi-thronged approaches.
“The ERC petition seeks to push for alignment of electoral laws to the
Constitution through the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
While critical, alignment alone might not achieve the desired changes to
the conduct of elections in Zimbabwe.
“Clearly, there is need for all stakeholders to focus on the comprehensive
implementation of the existing laws. This emerged as a fundamental flaw of
the electoral framework at the triangulation conference.
“Responsible institutions mandated by law to perform certain functions
must be held accountable for the apparent weak implementation of existing
provisions in the Electoral Act.
“The multi-thronged approach to electoral reform must also target
challenging the constitutionality of some provisions in the Electoral Act
which militate against credibility of electoral processes.”
Chimhini said it emerged that the biggest hindrance to align and implement
reform is political will.
“This was buttressed by constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku
insisting that the problem surrounding electoral processes in Zimbabwe is
not wholesomely in the law but in implementation.”
Mudenda in his concluding remarks also reiterated the need for civil
society and election stakeholders to target political will in seeking
improvements in the electoral framework.
Parly convenes two-day triangulation conference
ELECTION Resource Centre (ERC), in collaboration with 14 civil society
organisations submitted a petition to Parliament urging alignment of
election-related laws with the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The parliamentary portfolio committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs proceeded to conduct public hearings in Harare, Mutoko,
Concession, Gweru, Bulawayo, Gwanda, and Mutare to gather public views on
the petition.
Following the need to gather more evidence and corroboration, or vice
versa, of issues raised in the petition and during public hearings, the
Parliament of Zimbabwe convened a two-day triangulation conference from
June 24-25, 2017 at Rainbow Hotel, Bulawayo at the behest of the ERC
following submission of a petition in September 2015 urging immediate
alignment of electoral laws with the Constitution.
The conference brought together an estimated 100 stakeholders from
Parliament, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), the Zimbabwe Human
Rights Commission, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs ministry, the Information, Media and Broadcasting
ministry, the Council of Chiefs and civil society, for the first time
under one roof to discuss electoral reform issues.
This was hailed as a historic development towards nation-building and
particularly towards working together to ensure improvements in the
country’s electoral cycle considering that the government of Zimbabwe has
previously shunned engagement with civil society on electoral reform
issues.
The ERC was presented with an opportunity to unpack the petition and
defend petition issues ranging from independence of Zec, voter
registration, electoral boundary delimitation, election observers,
political environment, voter education, the right to vote and the
Electoral Court.
The ERC did not only articulate implications of an unaligned Electoral Act
but gave recommendations on best way forward regarding electoral democracy
in Zimbabwe.
The same platform allowed stakeholders to extensively scrutinise the
petition and appreciate how the current legal, environmental and
administrative frameworks negatively impact on credibility of electoral
processes in Zimbabwe.
The ERC said notwithstanding some contending views, there was general
consensus among stakeholders on the need for immediate implementation of
comprehensive electoral reforms and alignment of election-related laws
with the Constitution considering the limited time before the next
election.
`Electoral processes must be inclusive’
POLL watchdog, the Election Resource Centre (ERC) has insisted that
electoral processes being conducted must be done in a transparent and
inclusive manner and urged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), to
clarify the methodology used on the mapping exercise of the voter
registration centres.
Recently there has been an outcry from political parties on the
distribution of the proposed centres with allegations of strong bias
against urban areas.
In an interview, ERC executive director Tawanda Chimhini said all
electoral processes, including the mapping exercise which was done between
February and April 2017, must be conducted in a transparent and inclusive
manner.
“In the absence of a publicly shared methodology of the mapping exercise
it is difficult to be convinced that the above principles have been
exhaustively considered,” Chimhini said, adding that: “It is, therefore,
prudent in the part of Zec to fully clarify how they have arrived at the
number and distribution of the registration centres which will be used as
polling stations.”
Chimhini said the election management body, in setting up the centres,
must be guided by access, consideration of geography, population
distribution and community interest.
“In the spirit of inclusiveness, Zec must be prepared allow a public and
stakeholder review of the proposed centres before finalisation of the
same. While Zec has a constitutional mandate to administer elections
independently, ignoring concerns of stakeholders will diminish public
confidence in electoral processes,” he said.
ERC, a think tank and advocacy institution on democracy and elections, has
however acknowledged Zec’s engagement with political parties.
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