PRELIMINARY STATEMENT ON THE 10 JUNE 2015 BY-ELECTIONS
INTRODUCTION
On 10 June 2015, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) conducted National Assembly by-elections to fill vacancies which resulted from the expulsion from Parliament of a set of legislators who had ceased to be members of the political parties which had sponsored their initial entry into the legislature in July 2013. This culminated into sixteen by-elections[1] being held across the country, with fourteen of them being formerly MDC-T occupied and the additional two formerly held by ZANU PF representatives.
The by-elections were held consistent to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Section 129(k) as well as the Electoral Act (Chapter 2.13).
Guided by the mentioned legal framework and in reference to the SADC Principles and Guidelines on the Conduct of Democratic Elections, the Election Resource Centre (ERC) tracked and observed the circumstances surrounding the conduct of the 16 by-elections to ascertain compliance to the electoral laws, measure administrative efficacy as well as assess the electoral environment.
Consistently, the ERC tracked pre-electoral, electoral and the immediate post-electoral periods focusing mainly on the legal framework, the administrative framework and the electoral environment.
This report gives an assessment of circumstances surrounding the Election Day processes.
- WHY THE ERC OBSERVATION MISSION?
- To ascertain ZEC`s compliance to the country`s electoral laws
- To measure ZEC`s administrative efficiency and efficacy
- To assess the conduciveness of the electoral environment
- To detect possible electoral fraud and associated cases of malpractice or maladministration and report to ZEC
METHODOLOGY
The ERC deployed 22 accredited observers to Hurungwe West, Mbizo, Bulawayo, Headlands, Harare, Tsholotsho North and Dangamvura-Chikanga to assess the Election Day processes. Due to the limited number of observers on the ground, the ERC mainly relied on information gathered and supplied by its unaccredited citizen monitors situated in all the 16 constituencies that were affected by the by-elections. That was made possible through an online platform dubbed the “E-observer” which allowed communities to share their observations of the electoral processes in their respective areas through SMS or Whatsapp or on e-mail.
Additionally, the ERC also verified its findings through comparing data with other accredited observer groups like Heal Zimbabwe Trust.
- ELECTION DAY FINDINGS
- Administrative Framework
The conduct of the poll was well organized and professional, an indication that ZEC was fully prepared logistically, despite having limited funds for the by-elections. All polling stations are reported to have opened on time across the country and polling officers seemed to have been well trained and were quite cooperative on Election Day as opposed to previous elections. ZEC also managed to print and distribute enough materials, including ballot papers, at polling stations in all the 16 constituencies. The ERC also commends ZEC for putting in place, measures that ensured that the use of voter registration slips for voting was limited.
However, the credibility of the voters roll remains questionable as it was not timeously updated following the recently held pilot voter registration exercise. This resulted in a relatively high number of people being turned away for not appearing on the voters’ roll.
Inadequate funding for the elections and specifically for voter education had an effect on the quality of the electoral process, evidenced by the high number of voters who were turned away for reporting to wrong wards and for bringing wrong identity documentation to cast their votes.
Overall, ZEC officials acquitted themselves well by responding to reports of electoral malpractice relating to voter intimidation leading to arrests of 5 ZANU PF officials in Headlands and one in Tsholotsho North.
- Legal Framework
The unreformed legal framework for elections with its unconstitutional provisions remained problematic during the June 10 by-election.. By way of example, there still exists confusion in terms of how the postal vote is operationalized especially for those that will be doing election work on polling. Whilst the recently gazetted General Laws Amendment Bill attempts to clarify the issue of postal votes, the recently held by-elections could not witness any postal voting since the regulations are yet to be finalized through an amendment by Parliament of Zimbabwe. Resultantly, some civil servants who took part in the 16 by-elections could have been disenfranchised if they were deployed in areas where they registered to vote..
- Environment
Voting was largely characterized by low voter turnout. This could be attributed to the fact that the Election Day was not declared a public holiday.
Although voting was widely peaceful, there was an isolated report of violence in Mabutweni, Mpopoma in Bulawayo province where a young woman was allegedly arrested for beating up and tearing another woman’s ZANU PF t-shirt.
The playing field was far from being level, for example, the state media remained biased towards the ruling party whilst the independent media was biased towards independent candidates and opposition political parties. This was in violation of the SADC Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Democratic Elections.
The involvement of traditional leaders in election campaigning, in violation of the Constitution created a political environment that resulted in the ruling party having an unfair advantage over other candidates. The purpose of such involvement was to intimidate and coerce voters to vote in a particular manner.. Such reports were prevalent in Headlands and Hurungwe West. Such conduct was also in violation of the Electoral Code of Conduct.
Cases of vote buying were also reported in Tsholotsho North where there allegedly was a truck full of rice and tennis shoes, distributed before election, with remaining wards being promised to be distributed to voters after the election. Ward 3 in particular, is said to have received their truck load of goodies a night before election. In Lobengula, a councilor was reported to have been writing down the names of the people who voted, the list of those names was allegedly going to be used for distribution of residential stands. The circumstances characterizing the polling day especially in rural constituencies like Hurungwe West and Headlands was one which could not protect the right of citizens to make free choice of their preferred candidates.
- Conclusion
Having independently observed the by- elections, and made use of reliable data sourced from various credible institutions including Heal Zimbabwe Trust and ERC volunteers on the ground, it is our view that;
- Administratively, the elections were conducted in a satisfactory manner with ZEC officials showing desirable professionalism and competencies.
- The role of the police, which should be confined to providing order and security during polling was not properly maintained and defined with reports of police details aiding in the polling process and periodically requesting election statistics and reporting these to unknown destinations.
- The electoral environment was largely not conducive for citizens to make free choice of their preferred candidates as it was characterized by intimidation and coercion of voters.
- Some necessary aspects of the polling process, for example postal voting, suffered from incomplete realignment of the electoral laws to the constitution of Zimbabwe.
- By-elections generally suffered from low voter enthusiasm leading to a low voter turnout.
In the realm of the foregoing, it is important for electoral stakeholders to extract lessons from the 16 by-elections. Such lessons might be instructive of the possible character of the 2018 harmonized elections which must inform needed interventions towards reforming the obtaining electoral architecture.
[1] The by-elections were held in the following constituencies: Dangamvura-Chikanga, Headlands, Harare East, Dzivarasekwa, Highfield West, Glenview South, Kambuzuma, Kuwadzana, Mbizo, Luveve, Pumula, Pelandaba-Mpopoma, Lobengula, Makokoba, Hurungwe West
