ZIMBABWE HARMONISED

ELECTIONS 31 JULY 2013

ZESN

Table of Contents 1.BACKGROUND ...... 2 2.THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT ...... 5 3.LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF ELECTIONS...... 6 4. HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION ...... 9 5. ELECTION PREPAREDNESS ...... 11 6. ELECTION OBSERVERS ...... 18 7. NOMINATION ...... 20 8. CAMPAIGNING FOR THE ELECTIONS...... 22 9. THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN AND YOUTH...... 25 10. MEDIA ...... 26 11. SPECIAL VOTING ...... 28 12. CONCLUSION ...... 30

1

1. BACKGROUND

Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Elections to be held on 31 July are the final step in the political transition which began on 15 September 2008 with the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The GPA sought to resolve a contested and inconclusive electoral process which saw Robert Mugabe ‘win’ the Presidential election as a sole candidate following a violent presidential run-off campaign. Given that the issues which led to the ensuing political stalemate were long standing, the country needed a mechanism that would enable it to make a peaceful transition into an acceptable political dispensation whilst at the same time resolving these long standing political issues.

The 2008 elections had been held following years of violent electoral contestation in the country which began with the Parliamentary Elections of 2000 and continued with successive elections until 2008. All these elections were characterised by violence and intimidation of voters and political parties; claims of organised electoral fraud by the election management bodies, the implication of the security forces in the violence and biased media coverage, amongst other issues.

There was also the enactment of repressive legislation which violates the fundamental freedoms of citizens. This legislation includes the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) passed in 2002 which has been used to control freedoms of assembly and association. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) passed in 2002 has also been used to limit citizens’ access to information as has been the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) passed in 2001 which proscribed the participation of certain sectors in the country’s broadcasting arena.

Zimbabwe’s media landscape was for the first 20 years of independence dominated by the state which until owned all the daily newspapers in the country as well as all the radio stations and TV stations. This monopoly only began to weaken in 1999 with the launch of The Daily News a daily newspaper which was however banned in 2003 (using AIPPA) after a series of attacks on the editor and the company headquarters. There were also arrests of editors and reporters from other independent newspapers. The paper however re-launched in 2011 following the launching of another privately run daily newspaper, Newsday in 2010.

For these and other reasons, Zimbabwe’s political environment had been characterised by deep polarisation between forces loyal to ZANU-PF on one hand and those sympathetic to the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) which was founded in 2000 and brought the most serious challenge to ZANU-PF since independence when it won nearly half of the seats in the 2000 Parliamentary Elections. Since then there has been simmering tensions and an uneasy peace in the country. The MDC itself split in 2005 into two parties one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and another led by Arthur Mutambara who was later deposed and replaced by Welshman Ncube in 2011. Since then the MDC factions have contested elections separately and are effectively two separate functioning parties who carry the same name.

Due to this and other reasons the crisis caught the attention of the regional bloc, Southern African Development Community (SADC) which in 2007 appointed then South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between the different parties. His ‘quiet diplomacy’ mostly provided equally quiet results.

2

However, they did result in the passing of an amendment to the then Constitution which set the stage for ‘harmonised’ elections on March 29 2008. These elections were the first in the country’s history when the election of the president, the senate, the national assembly and the local authorities were held on the same day. They were also held using a new electoral system for the election of the president which required that the winner must win by attaining 50 percent plus 1 of the valid votes in the first round or failing that a simple majority in a run-off election between the two candidates with the highest number of votes from the first round.

The election results took six weeks to be released during which many speculate that they were being altered. By the time the results of the first round of the presidential election were released the results management system and the electoral commission had lost credibility. Independent monitors of the results projected a win for Morgan Tsvangirai who did win 47, 9% of the official results as opposed to 43.2% for Robert Mugabe. As neither attained the 50% plus one vote required, a run-off became necessary. However in a bid to ensure victory in the run-off election ZANU-PF unleashed a wave of violence that killed scores of opposition supporters and displaced many more. Due to the depth and extent of the violence, Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the run-off. However the electoral commission argued that the withdrawal was un-procedural and could not be accepted so President Mugabe contested by himself in the election and won but clearly his ‘victory’ lacked legitimacy.

President Mugabe was left with no choice but to compromise and share power with the MDCs and prepared for hold elections under a legal and institutional framework that would be acceptable to all the parties in the GPA and which would level the political and electoral playing field. The GPA was signed by the leaders of the three parties with the most seats in the national assembly namely President Robert Mugabe representing ZANU-PF, Morgan Tsvangirai representing MDC-T and Arthur Mutambara representing the MDC-M. The agreement was guaranteed by SADC which was given the responsibility to ensure its successful implementation.

Essentially the GPA was supposed to be a temporary power sharing agreement that would be used to govern the country while the country’s laws were reformed and until fresh elections could be organised. The signatories were charged with:

 Ending polarisation, divisions, conflict and intolerance  Respecting for the Constitution and all national laws, the rule of law, freedoms of assembly and association  Establishing a Select Committee of Parliament composed of representatives of the Parties to draft a new constitution with public input.  Ensuring the political neutrality of traditional leaders  Running the National Youth Training Programme in a non- partisan manner  Promoting plurality in broadcasting  Ensuring that the public media provides balanced and fair coverage to all political parties  Finally holding free, fair and credible elections in a new legal and institutional dispensation

3

In addition to a new constitution it was also expected the other legislative reforms such as reforms to the media laws, the electoral law, and the laws on association and assembly would be reformed and where necessary be aligned with the new constitution once the constitution had been gazetted.

Progress was painfully slow on all fronts. The constitution making process started late and progressed slowly due to conflict between the parties in the Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC). There was not much progress on the other reforms. Numerous SADC summits and meetings discussed the problem and made recommendations and exhortations to no avail. In August 2010, the SADC Heads of State, at the Windhoek Summit, demanded that the inclusive Government and the Zimbabwean political parties formulate a clear pathway to free, fair and credible election. There was still not much progress.

At an Extraordinary Summit of the Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation in Livingstone at the end of March 2011, SADC took a very strong stance on the lack of progress and called for a report back to the next SADC Summit. The parties in the GNU proposed the idea of a roadmap to free and fair elections and this was considered at the SADC summit in Sandston in June 2011. The roadmap was signed on 6th July 2011 with agreement on a timeline though some issues were omitted for negotiation. The roadmap enunciated and described the need for progress on the following areas: A. Ending Sanctions B. Constitution C. Media Reform D. Electoral Reform E. Rule of Law F. Freedom of Association and Assembly G. Legislative Agenda and Commitments H. Actual Election.

The signing of the roadmap did little to speed up the process. The only aspects of the roadmap on which there was progress were the constitution and electoral reform. The Electoral Amendment Act was gazetted in September 2012 with substantial changes to the legal framework of elections. The constitutional making process which was supposed to have taken 18 months was completed in double the time due to financial constraints and politicking between the three parties in the GNU. Though it was supposed to be a parliamentary-driven based on input from the public, the constitution-making process ended up being reduced to a process of compromise and negotiations between the principals to the GPA. Outreach meetings were disrupted and the parties fought on content on such issues as homosexuality and devolution.

In the end the draft which was taken to a referendum on March 16 2013 was a document partly made up of public contributions and partly negotiated content by the different parties in the GNU. That notwithstanding the referendum was one of the most successful electoral events in Zimbabwe since Independence. Turnout was very high and contrary to many people’s expectations, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission conducted a process that was largely free from logistical or administrative problems. With a resounding ‘Yes’ to the draft, the constitutional referendum was a political success. And it finally paved the way for the holding of the elections that would end the transitional arrangement.

4

As soon as the constitution was passed into law on 22 May, it was expected that the Electoral Act, POSA and AIPPA would be amended in order to be aligned to constitutional provisions. Since the beginning of the GNU, ZANU-PF has insisted that elections should be held at the earliest date and it is only the resistance of the other members of the GNU and gentle discouragement from SADC which have prevented the calling of an early election. The president has been threatening to hold elections since 2010. From the beginning of 2013, President Mugabe has insisted that the elections would be held by the 29 June 2013, the end of the current parliament. Detractors argued that elections could not possibly be held on that date since the reforms required by the GPA had not yet been made. Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube, now the leader of the smaller MDC faction, continued to insist that they would not participate in any elections without the reforms. In the meantime cabinet began discussing the alignment of POSA and AIPPA to the constitution.

In May 2013 a citizen Jealousy Mawarire took the President to the Constitutional Court claiming that absence of an election date pronouncement violated his rights as a voting citizen to an early election. When the judgement was delivered on 31 May, the President was ordered to ensure that elections took place by July 31. On 13 June the president proclaimed 31 July 2013 as the date for the harmonised elections and used his Presidential Powers to amend the electoral law without going to parliament. This was done despite the fact that the Minister of Finance had been insisting for many months now that the government had no money to hold elections. The president claimed to have used the Presidential Powers to amend the act because it was inexpedient to await for the amendment of the Electoral Act and still be able to abide by the constitutional court judgment. The president, one of the signatories of the GPA called these elections despite the fact that many of the agreed upon reforms had not been made. Further, the election date affected the school calendar.

A SADC summit held on 15 June encouraged the government of Zimbabwe to “seek more time beyond 31 July deadline for holding the Harmonized Elections’1. An application to extend the deadline for election was duly filed by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa on 18 June. However the application was criticised by analysts as being weak and because it was allegedly made without consulting GNU partners. Both MDC formations approached SADC with the application with these concerns. Nonetheless, on 4 July the constitutional court confirmed its earlier ruling that elections should be held by 31 July. It also dismissed applications by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube that the elections should be held on either 12 August or 25 August.

2. THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

Zimbabwe’s political environment has been generally calm, relatively peaceful with few reports of sporadic violence and intimidations in areas such as Zaka West, Mt Darwin and Uzumba.

ZESN’s observers reported in their regular reports that they were few incidents of intimidation whereby many people were afraid to express their true opinions and or even to associate with wrong elements including reading newspapers of their choice. For non-governmental organisations and community

1 Communique of the Extra–Ordinary Summit Of the SADC Heads of State and Government 15 June 2013,

5 based organisations the environment was mostly safe. Those organisations working in health and education and legal aid were able to operate without much hindrance. However for those working and dealing with civic education the situation has been quite different. These groups have faced challenges especially as they have sometimes been denied police clearance to conduct workshops and seminars.

Whilst the GPA provided for a government institution to deal with issues of national healing and an Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration was set up, its work has been low key and many have labelled it a failure. There are still many unhealed wounds from the violence of 2008 which contribute to the climate of fear around elections. In addition to the parties in the GNU other parties have also emerged or become more active and added their own voices to the Zimbabwean political discourse. These include ZAPU in the Matabeleland as well as the re-emergence of the Mavambo Kusile Dawn (MKD) political led by 2008 presidential candidate Simba Makoni. Starting with the constitutional debate and following in on the constitutional referendum, more parties have begun to speak on national issues. As a result, sixteen parties have fielded candidates in the upcoming elections.

Whilst the MDC-T won the most seats in the National Assembly in 2008, since then a number of reports2 have suggested that support for the MDC-T is slowly waning in its traditional strongholds in the urban areas and that ZANU-PF support has also grown in the urban areas. This has set the stage for an interesting electoral contest. An attempt to avoid a split of the opposition vote for the Presidency as that which happened in 2008 was made when the MDC-T, ZAPU, MDC-N, ZANU-Ndonga and the MKD reportedly planned a grand coalition which would field one presidential candidate. However this has not taken place and two smaller coalitions have emerged but which have not impacted the Presidential Election.

The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, (JOMIC) is a multi-partisan panel that was established to monitor the implementation of the GPA, progress of the GNU and report back to SADC. In the run up to the election a number of ZESN’s observers reported that JOMIC was also conducting peace education meetings in the communities. JOMIC has also been flighting advertisements calling for peace. ZANU-PF’s attempt to pull out of JOMIC just before the elections due to alleged abuse of JOMIC by the MDC-T also cast doubt on the organisation’s ability to influence events.

3. LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF ELECTIONS

One of the key reform areas identified by the GPA was the legal framework of elections. Whilst the GPA focuses much on the constitution, the agreement also calls for changes to be made to the Electoral Act and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act. Also targeted for review were the electoral regulations and other pieces of legislation which affect the conduct of elections. These are primarily the Criminal Law( Codification and Reform) Act , the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act and the Access to Information, Protection of Privacy Act ( AIPPA.)

6

Changes to Zimbabwe’s electoral legal framework began with the Electoral Amendment Act, Act 3 of 2012 which was passed in September 2012. These changes were followed by the promulgation of the New Constitution in May 2013 as well as several statutory instruments which have been passed since the beginning of 2013. The most notable of these is Statutory Instrument 85 which made key changes to the Electoral Act, to bring its provisions in line with the New Constitution.

The new constitution of Zimbabwe has brought a number of fundamental changes to the electoral dispensation. These include the manner in which elections are conducted and new structures of governance at the provincial levels. The constitution introduced provincial councils in the eight non- metropolitan provinces who are elected using proportional representation based on the results of the national assembly elections in that province. The intent is to decentralise and improve decision making at the provincial level. The new constitution also provides for 60 seats for women in the national assembly for the next two parliaments. There are six of these seats per province and the number of seats each party receives will be based on the proportion of votes that the party has attained in the national assembly elections in that province. These changes are aimed at increasing the representation of women in politics.

The senators in the Senate of the Parliament of Zimbabwe who were previously elected directly are now elected using the same system of proportional representation based on the votes cast for the national assembly elections. Thus six senators in each province are elected based on the proportion of seats that each party will have won in the national assembly election in that province. There are now two senators to represent the disabled. These two senators are nominated and are elected by an electoral college on a specified day, different from the actual polling day.

The import of these changes particularly the introduction of the proportional representation is that Zimbabwe now operates a mixed-member electoral system. This increases representation of different groups such as women and the disabled whilst maintaining the accountability of directly elected representatives. It however reduces choice because in the past when senators were directly elected, voters could vote for different parties in the senate and the national assembly elections. Presently, the party you vote for in the national assembly is the party you get in the senate. The new changes present challenges of interpretation both at the election management level and for voter education and information. Voter education will be needed to explain that Senators are no longer directly elected and to explain the, 60-member quota for women in the National Assembly and the composition of the provincial councils.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act was repealed and Sections 238-241 of the new constitution provide for the establishment of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as one of the democracy protection institutions. Just before the election proclamation President Mugabe using his Executive powers changed the electoral act with Statutory Instrument 85 of 2013. Following the election proclamation other changes were made with Statutory Instruments 87 and 89.

A summary of the major changes to the electoral legal framework in 2012 and 2013:

7

 The Constitution of Zimbabwe establishes the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, introduces provincial councils and 60 reserved seats for women and two senators for the disabled  Electoral Amendment Act- Introduced Special Investigations committee to address electoral violence, amended provisions for the electoral act to adjudicate electoral disputes, shortened time by which election results should be announced, specifically provides for the independence and impartiality of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.  Statutory Instrument 68 – Reduced costs of voters’ roll  Statutory Instrument 69- voter registration requirements  Statutory Instrument 84-Special Voting and Postal Voting Regulations  Statutory Instrument 85- amendments to the Electoral Act including setting the formula to be used for the seats which are won using proportional representation, creating of ward structures.  Statutory instrument-86- Proclamation of Election Date by President  Statutory Instrument 87- Results Transmission System Statutory Instrument 88-Nomination of Candidates  Statutory instrument 89- Accreditation of Observers.

Electoral Dispute Resolution

There are several measures provided by the law for managing election related disputes. Electoral conflict is to be managed by multiparty liaison committees established in 2007 and covered in Section 160 of the Electoral Act. Section 133 establishes and provides for the operations of a Special Investigation Committee at provincial level which operates with the collaboration of the Zimbabwe Human Rights commission and the Zimbabwe Republic Police to deal with cases of political violence. This is a new provision from the Electoral Amendment Act of 2012.

Sections 161-165 of the Electoral Act establish the Electoral Court which is supposed to hear appeals, applications and petitions in terms of the Act. The court is manned by judges seconded from the High Court in order to deal with electoral cases expeditiously. In 2013 the Electoral Court has dealt mainly with cases to do with the nomination process including cases where parties were appealing against expelled members using their logos or where parties feel that their members were unfairly excluded from nomination. In terms of Section 93 of the constitution, the Constitutional Court must hear and determine a presidential petition.

Even though in his judgement on the election date, the Chief Justice noted that the court should not make orders which would result in the President breaching electoral provisions3, the judgement itself and the necessary legislative changes which took place between the gazetting of the new constitution and the election date haves done exactly that. Firstly massive logistical challenges were created for all stakeholders in particular for the election management body, ZEC and for organisations planning to deploy observers and election agents to monitor polling processes on Election Day. These faced challenges of training, fund raising and materials.

8

It has also created some legal contradictions which raise the question of the legality of the election. For example the law requires that the nomination courts should sit after the end of voter registration as the law requires that candidates and those supporting their candidature should be registered voters. However in order to meet the legal provision to hold polls at least 30 days after the nomination court, it was necessary for the nomination courts to sit on 28 June even though voter registration was not yet completed. So those who failed to register lost their right to stand as candidates. The legal framework is now full of details and legal complexities and new provisions which are meant to entrench fairness but can also provide a minefield to the unwary.

Additionally the pre-election landscape has also been littered with court cases of every kind. In addition to challenges to the election date and to special voting key cases were brought by citizens. After the court had granted the order to Jealousy Mawarire for his petition for an early election, Nixon Nyikadzino filed a court case on 12 June seeking to delay the 31 July poll arguing that the elections could not be held because reforms had not been completed. He lost his case as did former ‘alien’ Maria Phiri who sought to delay the polls because she needed time to register as an alien and then register as a vote. Another was the case of Mutumwa Mawere who successfully petitioned the court to compel the Register General to restore his citizenship formerly denied by the prohibition on dual citizenship in the old constitution so that he could vote. Other unsuccessful cases have been lost such as the case to allow those citizens in the Diaspora to vote, and to allow journalist deployed on election duty to vote before Election Day.

4. HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

Since the signing of the GPA, Zimbabwe has witnessed many cases of the violation of human rights. Some of these violations emanate from provisions in the law which violate civil and political rights. For instance the Zimbabwean law does not provide for out of country voting by citizens domiciled abroad unless they are on official government business. This violates the rights of citizens’ right to vote. However a positive note, the passing of the new constitution has meant that those formerly classified as aliens because their parents did not originate from Zimbabwe can now be reclassified and can vote thereafter. The constitution also now gives prisoners the right to vote.

The fact that the broadcasting environment is dominated by the state violates the rights of citizens to participate from a business perspective i.e. establish their own companies. It also limits the rights of citizens to having access to a multiplicity of information sources which in an election enhances their ability to choose.

Beatings of supporters for the former opposition parties have been recorded throughout the entire life of the GNU as have been low-key but sustained intimidation of communities. The intimidation of voters in the run-up to the elections is taking place via various channels. Freedom of speech and association is limited especially in particular communities in the rural areas. Many people in Zimbabwe’s rural areas report that they not feel free to read certain private newspapers or even wear the regalia of their parties. And people’s freedoms of association have been violated when they were forced to attend ZANU-PF

9

meetings and buy ZANU-PF cards. In many areas, people were also forced to buy ZANU-PF party cards before receiving food, loans and other necessities4.

The cases of harassment of civil society have continued as the country prepares for elections. A number of these arrests centred on the fact that the groups were alleged to be conducting voter education in contravention of the law which states clearly that voter education should only be done by ZEC or by organisations that have been accredited by ZEC. In addition to the case of Beatrice Mtetwa who was arrested and charged in her own capacity, the table below shows all the cases of arrests and detention of civil society activists.

The table below shows cases in 2013 over and above those have been taking place since the beginning of the government of national unity in 2008.

Table 1. Incidents of Harassment of civil society actors in 2013 Date Organisation Persons Involved Description of Events 6 July 2013 X1G Campaign Various Arrested for conducting g a meeting without individuals from police clearance. Detained for 2 nights before organisations being released. The case is yet to be affiliated with the resolved. campaign 28 May ZESN (officer of Field officers Office raided and voter education material member organisation) confiscated 11 May Election Resource Three volunteers Arrested for conducting voter education Centre Executive without the approval of ZEC Director 12 May Youth Agenda Trust Six members Conducting voter education without approval of ZEC. Detained for 12 hours then released 23 April Students Solidarity Advocacy officer Arrested for doing voter education without the Trust approval of ZEC after making a presentation on elections. Released without a charge March Zimbabwe Peace Director Charged with operating an unregistered Project organisation, smuggling radio sets and mobile phones and illegal broadcasting. 19 February ZESN headquarters All Staff Police raided office looking for subversive material 19 February ZESN Masvingo Field Staff Police raided office looking for subversive Offices material 11 February Zimbabwe Peace All Staff Police raided offices and confiscated radios Project-offices, members and phones. hillside Harare 11 February COTRAD and Field Officers Offices raided. 2 employees detained

4 ZESN Long Term Observers

10

NANGO 6 February National Youth Staff members Offices raided Accused of being in Development Trust possession of subversive material and conducting illegal Voter Registration 14 January Zimbabwe Human Director Arrested for conspiracy to commit voter Rights Association registration fraud, forgery and falsehoods. (ZimRights)

What makes the present situation so unfortunate is that the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, one of the democracy protection institutions in the constitution of Zimbabwe has been unable to function due to lack of funds. This led to the resignation of the chairperson in December 2012 and even though he has been replaced the commission has been silent during this campaign.

5. ELECTION PREPAREDNESS

a. Election Management

The management of elections in Zimbabwe is in the hands of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. ZEC is responsible for the conduct of elections for the following:

 The office of the President  The National Assembly  The Senate  Local authorities  Provincial councils,  Metropolitan councils  The governing bodies of local authorities  The national council of chiefs

The commission is also charged with supervising election for the President of the Senate and the Speaker; registering voters, compiling voters’ rolls and registers, ensuring the proper custody of the rolls, the delimitation of electoral boundaries and the establishment and operation of polling centres including procurement of all the electoral materials to be used therein. It is the commission’s responsibility to conduct and supervise voter education and to accredit observers for elections and referenda. ZEC is also to monitor the media coverage of the election and to consider complaints from the public and take action to address these complaints.

For the 2013 harmonised elections, ZEC has faced many challenges. It comes into the elections with the history of alleged partisanship of the commissioners and staff. A number of senior staff is either former or serving members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces5. The commission is also burdened by the

5 ‘Pre-Election Detectors- ZANU-PF’s attempt to reclaim political hegemony’ Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.

11 legacy of the disastrous management of results in 2008 which damaged its credibility further and places more pressure on it to ensure that election events are conducted properly.

The year began well for ZEC. Even though the then chairperson of the commission Justice Simpson Mutambanegwe resigned in February 2012, he was soon replaced by Justice Rita Makarau. Thereafter ZEC conducted a technically successful referendum which raised hopes that it would ably meet the challenges of the harmonised poll under the leadership of the new chairperson.

Apart from questions of partisanship, ZEC has struggled with securing funding for its work. The commission is supposed to receive funding from the consolidated revenue fund but funds have been slow in coming and they are also disbursed partially. On 26 July 2013, 96 million dollars has been disbursed out of the 132 million that ZEC required. In the Minister of Finance’s budget for 2013 the vote for referendum and the general elections was not adequately covered. And there have been constant complaints by the Minister of Finance that the government does not have funds for elections.

ZEC has been receiving funding and technical assistance from the Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa (EISA) and technical assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The government has remained adamant that for reasons of national sovereignty and to prevent interference in national affairs it would not accept external funding for the conduct of the actual elections. Earlier in the year it appeared that government was relenting and overtures were made to the international community. However a planned UNDP needs assessment mission was aborted after the government accused the body of trying to interfere in national affairs. Funding for the polls was only secured in the week before the 31 July poll.

The voters’ roll which in many ways is the essence of the poll and the foundational document of the poll is actually compiled by the Registrar General of Voters (RGV) under the supervision of the electoral commission which can only supervise the RGV as he discharges this function. This continues to create challenges because it means whilst being responsible and ultimately accountable for the quality and the credibility of the poll, ZEC does not control all aspects of the elections.

For the purposes of an election Section 10 (1) of the Electoral Act also gives the commission the power to recruit staff from persons in the employment of the state and to train them and deploy and of course ensure their non-partisanship. In April 2013, in a meeting with ZEC the MDC-T protested ZEC’s appointment of ward youth officers, widely believed to be ZANU-PF supporters, as polling officials during the referendum and called on the commission.6 The assessment of ZEC’s preparedness is also based on its performance in the key electoral events as per the electoral cycle approach to elections shown in the diagram below.

6 ‘MDC demands changes at ZEC’-Nehanda Radio 23 April 2013

12

Figure 1- Electoral cycle approach to election management.

Before the Election Proclamation by President Mugabe on 13 June the Zimbabwean electoral authorities had already begun the process of preparing for the election as per the provisions of the new constitution and the Electoral Act. According to Paragraph 5 of the sixth schedule of the new Constitution the existing constituency and ward boundaries will apply for the purpose of the first elections following the passing of the constitution so there was no delimitation of electoral boundaries for this election.

Table 2 below shows the consolidated election calendar which incorporates the election proclamation of June 13 and other processes such as special voting whose dates are derived from the election date as well as those processes which had already begun by the time the proclamation was made.

Table 2: Calendar of electoral events and progress thus far

Event Date Provided for by Status Mobile Voter April 29 to May 19 Electoral Act Section Completed Registration 1 36a Mobile Voter 9 June to 10 July Constitution of Completed Registration 2 Zimbabwe Section 6 (3) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Nomination 28 June Statutory 86 of 2013 Completed pending resolution to Court for read with Section 58 court challenges

13

Harmonised of the Constitution Elections Nomination of 28 June Section 45C of the Completed party-list Electoral Act read candidates for with SI 86 the Senate, the National Assembly and provincial councils Election of 12 July 120(1 )(b) and (c) of Completed Chiefs the new Constitution, as read with section 38(3) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] and section 35 of the Traditional Leaders Act [Chapter 29:17]- Election of 19 July As Above Completed President and Deputy President of council of chiefs Election of 2 August Section 120 1 (b) of Pending Senator Chiefs the Constitution read with SI 86 Special Voting 14-15 July Section 81 of the Constitutional Court allowed the 26 Electoral Act read 160 security forces and civil servants with SI86 and SI 84 who failed to vote in the Special ballot Election of 2 August Electoral Act Pending Senators for the disabled Election of 60 To be determined Constitution of Pending women by the date of Zimbabwe representative to announcement of parliament , results senators and members of provincial councils for non- metropolitan councils

14

Presidential Run 11 September Statutory Instrument To be conducted if there is no Off Election 86 read with Section outright winner in the first round of 110(3)(f) (iii); the presidential election.

All these events off course run concomitant to the logistical preparations for the election including establishment of polling stations for the poll, the printing of ballot papers as well as procurement of materials, training of all polling officials and stakeholder management, accreditation of observers, accreditation of journalists and keeping electoral stakeholders informed on the process.

For this election ZEC has made an effort in terms of keeping stakeholders engaged and informed about the process. Since 2012, the commission has held regular workshops for the media, for the police and other electoral stakeholders to inform and train them on various aspects of the process. On 18th June the ZEC chairperson briefed members of the media on election reporting. Members of the media who were present were advised that ZEC would be monitoring the media’s coverage of different political parties in order to ensure that the coverage is not partisan. On the 3rd of July the ZEC also conducted training for chief election agents to train them on the procedures that would be used during the election. Various briefing meetings and updates for observer groups were held.

The commission has also released the provisional list of polling stations three weeks in advance of the election with an increase the number of polling stations from the last election, relative to the increase in the number of voters. ZEC indicated that the final list of polling stations would be released on Election Day. Observer groups called on ZEC to release the final list earlier than on Election Day to allow them and other stakeholders to prepare. On Sunday 28 July ZEC published a final list of 9 7357 polling stations adding to its earlier number of 9670.

This is all well and good. However the commission also appears to be torn between legality versus quality and credibility of elections. For example ZEC’s chairperson Justice Rita Makarau has justified the ending of the voter registration without including all voters because that is what the law provides. This is despite the fact that the failure of all these citizens to register has led to their disenfranchisement and violation of their civil and political rights. For example in June, a website was launched which allows voters to verify their voter registration status online. The commission responded that it would need to verify first whether the website was legal or not. For the sake of maximising voter participation and the need to also have a ‘quick and easy’ way for voters to inspect the roll the commission would have been better served to work quickly with the groups who have posted this information online as it would help the commission address some of its own shortcomings.

Whilst members of the commission including the new chair Justice Rita Makarau insist that that the commission is ready to conduct elections the logistical problems during voter registration and the manner in which the special vote was conducted has raised many questions about ZEC’s actual preparedness. The failure of the commission to manage a small number of voters and polling stations in comparison to the actual voting day has damaged public confidence in its ability to conduct the harmonised elections. It also suggests that there are logistical and/or procurement issues at ZEC that

7 Insert in The Standard Newspaper - 28 July 2013,

15 need to be addressed before Election Day so that a similar occurrence does not arise. However we should also allow that ZEC like many of the country’s electoral stakeholders is merely running on the fast moving treadmill was set in motion by a proclamation of an early date. b) Voters Roll and Voter registration

Voter registration in Zimbabwe is continuous with voters free to register at district offices in between elections (Section 17A of the Electoral Act). The Registrar General is supposed to update the voters roll using these new registrations and by deleting dead people from the roll which should be done seamlessly as the registrar-general of voters is also the registrar-general of deaths. However as most do not take advantage of this facility for continuous registration the Registrar General regularly conducts election specific voter registration drives. As such, from 29 April to 19 May, the Registrar General under the supervision of the electoral commission conducted a mobile voter registration all over the country.

However the funds provided were not sufficient as there were problems with lack of personnel, materials and other resources during the exercise. There was also very poor publicity and voter education. Some citizens did not know the voter registration was taking place. In addition many prospective registrants arrived at registration centres without knowing the requirements for registration. The requirement for proof of residence thwarted many prospective registrants particularly in urban areas.

And in rural areas where proof of residence is supplied by the traditional authorities, some of these traditional authorities refused to authenticate people who were not in supportive of ZANU-PF e.g Mudzi West in violation of one of the principles of the GPA that traditional authorities should be non-partisan. Former Aliens were turned away as they had to renounce their alien status first and formalise their citizenship before being allowed to register and contrary to announcements by the Registrar General they were forced to pay a fee for this renunciation. Some centres did not open for long enough and in some areas such as Harare the number and location of the registration centres was not conducive for people to come and register.

When the exercise ended on 19 May there was much criticism that it was inadequate and did not capture all those interested in registering e.g. to address these concerns and abide by a requirement of the new constitution, a new exercise was conducted from 10 June to 9 July. Improvements were noted including more publicity and the deployment of 2 voter educators per ward. The requirements for registration were relaxed. However despite original plans to have a team in each ward for 30 consecutive days, due to funding constraints registration was done for 2-3 wards simultaneously and for only 3 days. Many people thus failed to register including those who were employed and couldn’t take time off to register when the teams were in their ward during the week.

Other problems identified were:

 Failure to accredit civil society organisations to observe the voter registration.

16

 Lack of special measures for vulnerable groups such as people living with disabilities pregnant and nursing women and the elderly  Insufficient information on the voter registration procedures and requirements.  Lack of sensitivity to vulnerable groups including people living with disabilities, pregnant and nursing  Slow processing of potential voters and unprofessional conduct by voter registration officials.  Disenfranchisement of Zimbabwean citizens still classified as “aliens”.  Inadequate voter education – ZEC deployed only two people per ward to conduct voter education and this compromised the reach and quality of the education provided8.

Whilst some Zimbabweans living in the country failed to register other Zimbabweans did not have that opportunity. The government has remained adamant that it would not allow out of country voting for ordinary citizens in the Diaspora and this was confirmed by the constitutional court which on June 28 ruled against an application for right to vote by a Zimbabwean citizen based in South Africa.

In another case of disenfranchisement, the new constitution allows prisoners the right to vote the ZEC chairperson indicated prisoners would not vote because ZEC does not have mechanisms in place and there is no time to do this9. However questions about the state of the voters’ roll itself which go back many years, remain. And in a report on the Voters Roll in July 2013 the Research and Advocacy Unit showed worrying levels of over-registration in the voters roll all the age groups over the age of 30. In some constituencies, the number of people registered exceeds the total population and the number of people on the roll who are 100 years and over is at 116 195 which is by any estimation highly unusual if true. A week before the election, the Registrar-General of Voters announced that 747 928 new voters had been added to the roll during the two voter registration drives and that the total voter population was 6.4 million10. c. Voter Education According to Section 239h of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and Electoral Act Section 40A to 40F the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission conducts and supervises voter education. And voter education must be accurate and adequate. In order to fulfil this particular aspect of its mandate, the commission is required to accredit civic organisations which may conduct voter education.

With regard to the harmonised poll in 2013, voters have received less than adequate voter education and voter information. The referendum itself was conducted without most of the voters having actually read the draft. This trend has continued since then. For example during the first voter registration exercise which was conducted in May, observers lamented the lack of voter education and information. The commission deployed only two voter educators per district who under no circumstances could have been expected to deliver voter education adequately. Many potential registrants did not have adequate information about the requirements for registration. At the time, the commission had not yet accredited

8 Civil society joint statement on observations on the mobile voter registration exercise

9 ‘Key statistics on from the 2013 Voters’ Roll’ – Research and Advocacy Unit. 10 ‘Mugabe can’t win’ Daily News 25 July 2013.

17 any other organisations to conduct voter education even though there are a number of organisations who have the experience, the resources and the geographical coverage to do so.

The arrest of several organisations for conducting voter education created uncertainty about the commission’s commitment to making sure that the electorate gets adequate and accurate information. Unlike the most recent elections that the country has conducted, these elections has also seen the re- introduction of the proportional representation system for some seats in the national assembly, for the senate and for eight of the country’s ten provinces. Also in this election voters will no longer be voting for the senate unlike in the elections of 2008. There is need for voters to receive explanation about all these changes. .

With the end of the voter registration process however, the electoral commission’s voter educators have moved to a door to door campaign to educate voters in every ward about the electoral process. The commission has also accredited a number of civil society organisations to conduct voter education alongside the commission and it is to be hoped that these will work to deliver the voter education in the coming weeks before the poll.

The organisations that have been accredited include Ark Zimbabwe (Mvuma), Casa Masvingo Entertainment and Sports Association (Masvingo), Citizen Participation Forum (Harare), Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (Harare), Civic Education Network Trust (Harare), Gweru East Development Trust, Habakkuk Trust (Bulawayo), Institute for Young Women Development and Musasa Project. Others include National Disabled Persons Trust, The Women Trust, Organisation for Zimbabwe, Wisdom Institute International Zimbabwe, Voices in the Vision of Africa Registered, Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Collaborators Association, Zimbabwe Reveal Generations Trust and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)11. Unfortunately this accreditation came too late for them to observe the mobile voter registration and the special voting.

6. ELECTION OBSERVERS

Section 40 of the Electoral Act provides that observers can be accredited to monitor all aspects of the poll in particular the process on Election Day. Observers are also required to bring any irregularities to the attention of the commission and share with the commission their thoughts and recommendations as expressed in their final election review. Statutory Instrument 85 has also broadened the aspect of the elections which accredited observers can observe and this includes the access to information and to participate equally which is given to political parties to use the national media and state resources. In a positive move, the Act also now provides that observers should also measure the degree of impartiality shown by the Commission in the discharge of its duties. The legislation provides for an observer accreditation committee which considers applications to observe from individuals and organisations both local and international.

11‘No Extension to Voter Registration’ http://www.chronicle.co.zw/no-extension-to-voter-registration/

18

Observers are invited to observe after vetting by the Observer Accreditation Committee which is made up of five ZEC commissioners including the chairperson and her deputy, one person from the office of the President and various government ministries including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs and the minister in charge immigration, the Minister of Home affairs. However the issue of election observation has long been a contentious one with local observers accused of supporting opposition in the country due to being mainly funded by foreign organisations. Local Observers have often been accused of being anti-ZANU PF and serving the interests of the governments which fund them.

In the recent past, the requirements were that an observer had to appear in person before they could be accredited at one of only three accreditation centres in Zimbabwe which created enormous logistical and financial challenges for organisations wanting to observe the election as they had to finance the travel and accommodation of the members wanting to be accredited or example for the 2008 Presidential run-off ZESN submitted 8000 names for accreditation but the minister only approved 500 which were roughly five % of the total number of polling stations.

International Observers have also had a chequered experience. Following a very negative assessment of the 2002 Presidential elections by the European Union Election Observer Mission, Zimbabwe has all but closed its door on any observers from Western countries accusing these countries of being biased against Zimbabwe. Instead the country has been very welcoming to observers from SADC and the African Union and other regional bodies. However these missions have often been accused of ignoring obvious irregularities and bias in the electoral process and being ‘soft’ on Zimbabwe. And therefore they lack credibility.

Thus SI instrument 89 which was published on the 14th June has exempted representatives of the following organisations from paying accreditation fees:

 African Union;  The Southern African Development Community (SADC)  The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF)  The Electoral Commissions Forum of the Southern African Development Community;  The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa;  African Electoral Bodies.

Local observers will be required to pay USD10, 00 per person. Local organisations which applied to observe the voter registration did not receive the invitation to observe the exercise Paradoxically SADC, the African Union and The Southern African Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) were able to deploy observers to monitor the voter registration as they began arriving in the country whilst registration was under way.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission however should be lauded for decentralisation the accreditation of observers to the 10 provincial capitals. A week before the election the commission, reported that it had approved the accreditation around 20000 observers including local organisations and observers

19 from the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for East and Southern Africa, SADC Parliamentary Forum and non-governmental organisations such as SADC Electoral Support Network and SADC Electoral Advisory Council.12 In line with recent practice, there were few international groups from outside of Africa and embassies were limited to only five per diplomatic mission.

7. NOMINATION

Nominations for the purpose of elections to the Presidency, the House of Assembly and local authorities took place on 28 June 2013 at various locations around the country.

Table 3- Nomination Requirements, Zimbabwe TYPE OF QUALIFICATION FOR NOMINATION FEE. COMPOSITION ELECTION DATE ELECTION CANDIDATES President -Citizen by birth or USD 500,00 Executive presidency 31 July 2013 descent -40 Years and above House of -Citizen of Zimbabwe USD 10, 00 for 270 members Assembly -Registered voter elected members -210 members elected – 31 July for elected -21 years or over USD 60,00 for each 60 women members -Ordinarily resident in party list representatives as soon as Zimbabwe for 5 years election results over past 20 years announced for women Senate -Citizen of Zimbabwe USD 60,00 for each 80 members As soon as -Registered voter party list -60 elected through election results -40 years or over proportional are announced for -Ordinarily resident in representation (6 in the 60 ordinary Zimbabwe for 5 years each of 10 provinces) senators over past 20 years - 18 chiefs (inc. 12 July for 18 President & Deputy chiefs President of Council of (19 July for the Chiefs) selection of -2 reps for disabled Local -Citizen of Zimbabwe USD 10,00 1958 -directly elected 31 July 2013 Authority -21 years and over -Registered voter in council area ______

12 ‘ZEC accredits 20000 observers’ at http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88433:zec-accredits- 20-000-election-observers&catid=38:local-news&Itemid=131#.UfGleY3I2So

20

Provincial As soon as results councils in are announced the 8 non – based on the results metropolita on the National n provinces Assembly.

The process was relatively peaceful and there were no major problems recorded besides some procedural anomalies with nomination courts opening late or closing late. Due to the fact that voter registration was not yet complete, some candidates faced problems getting signatures from registered voters to support their candidature. At the end of the sitting of the nomination court a total of 5 Presidential candidates and 871 candidates for the national assembly elections had successfully filed their nomination papers13. However 24 of these candidates later withdrew their candidature 14 mostly due to pressure from their parties. According to the Daily News on Sunday 28 July, there are 66 women from various parties as well as many independent candidates competing for the poll.

Due to internal disputes against the results of primary elections, in parties there were double candidatures on the same party ticket in 34 constituencies15 or some aggrieved candidates filed papers as independents. Even though some of these ‘rebels’ later withdrew their candidature remain unsolved, some party issues remained unsolved. For example the MDC-T to date has failed to address double candidature in Dangamvura Chikanga constituency and has threatened to expel member Arnold Tsunga over the issue. In Bikita West constituency, ZANU-PF has expelled Munyaradzi Kereke for sanding against the party anointed candidate. Other cases remain for both parties and it is likely the votes in these constituencies will be split.

Below are the results of the nomination courts:

Presidential Elections: NAME OF CANDIDATE PARTY Dumiso Dabengwa ZAPU Robert Mugabe ZANU-PF Welshman Ncube MDC - N Morgan Tsvangirai MDC-T

Parties Contesting the National Assembly Elections: 1. Alliance Kumbula Ekhaya- AKE 2. CTD 3. FCZ 4. Free Zimbabwe Congress

13‘871 candidates to contest the harmonised elections’. http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national- byo-32786.html 14 ‘24 Aspirants revoke candidature’ http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86937:polls-24-aspirants-revoke- candidature&catid=37:top-stories&Itemid=130#.UfGqfo3I2So 15 ‘Zanu-PF, MDC sweat over rebels’ – The Independent Newspaper 19 July 2013

21

5. Independents 6. Mavambo Kusile Dawn (MKD) 7. Movement for Democratic Change – MDC-T 8. Movement for Democratic Change (Ncube Faction) MDC-N 9. People’s Democratic Union Freedom Front 10. Progressive and Innovative Movement of Zimbabwe PIMZ 11. United Movement for Democracy (UMD) 12. Voice of the People (VP) 13. ZANU-Ndonga 14. Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) 15. Zimbabwe Development Party 16. Zimbabwe National African Union (Patriotic Front)-ZANU PF 17. Zimbabwe People’s Movement (ZPM)

The list of candidates shows that there is strong competition for this election. Many constituencies have four or more candidates for the national assembly elections.

8. CAMPAIGNING FOR THE ELECTIONS

The campaign period was generally calm and there relatively peaceful. In some ways political parties particularly those in the GNU have been campaigning for this elections since the beginning of the Inclusive government. Even the constitution making process for much of its life became subject to horse trading between the different parties. Each party has been trying to win the hearts and minds of the Zimbabwean voter using different platforms. ZANU-PF using the indigenisation campaign and the call to sovereignty for the Zimbabwean people. MDC-T through the Jobs, Upliftment, Investment, Capital, Ecology (JUICE), as well as the Agenda for Real Transformation (ART) policy documents which were launched in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The MDC-N has been campaigning for devolution. Other parties contesting have not really presented clear policy positions.

As mentioned before a proposed grand coalition against ZANU-PF did not materialise and apart from joint press conferences most parties are campaigning alone. Unlike recent elections most parties are able to hold rallies although there have been some rallies that have not received police clearance. There are also reports that ZANU-PF is forcing people to attend rallies and meetings in the rural areas and in Harare’s high density areas.

Although the law requires that all parties receive equitable coverage, media monitors have identified bias in the reporting on political party campaigns. The state media is campaigning unequivocally for ZANU-PF whilst the private media whilst being more balanced still displays more bias towards parties other and against ZANU-PF16. Newspapers, social media and the internet are awash with photographs of colourful rallies that have been held. In what could be interpreted as a sign of increasing political tolerance in the country, the MDC held a star rally at Chipadze stadium in Bindura, Mashonaland

16Media Alliance of Zimbabwe- Statement on the state of the media ahead of the 31 July Harmonised Elections by the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe 24 July 2013

22

Central. In previous years, this province was virtually a no-go area for the opposition and saw some of the worst atrocities in the presidential run-off campaign.

However the campaign has not been without its own problems. For example it is reported that in some areas of the country, some parties are campaigning at night as they are afraid of victimisation17. Some areas have reported problems with securing police clearance for their meetings. This campaign has been remarkable for the reason that President Mugabe and the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who have been both preaching peace during the campaign. Notably, President Robert Mugabe is recorded to have made a call for peace at the ZANU-PF annual conference in December 2012. Other senior lieutenants in his party such as the national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, and the Minister of Home affairs, Kembo Mohadi and other MDCs senior officers have also made the same call for peace.

It is unfortunate that the party’s supporters on the ground and some other senior members have failed to heed this call. Overt violence in this campaign is not at the levels that have been seen in the country since 2000. However it is also clear that it has been replaced by emotional and psychological violence in the form of threats and intimidation to The threats have been recorded in the following voters. Across the country war veterans constituencies: working with ZANU-PF supporters have • Bikita West (Masvingo-MSV) - technology been threatening communities with post- exists to monitor how voters have cast their election retribution. ballots and the evidence will be used after the election. • Beitbridge East (MS) - War and Torture if The partisanship of traditional leaders was Zanu-PF doesn’t win. 18 addressed in the GPA . However reports • Insiza South (MS)-There will be blood shed show that traditional leaders have if Mugabe loses the elections continued their partisan support of ZANU- • Zaka North (MSV) - Voters told that there PF in areas such as Chikomba West should be no opposition i.e. No party other constituency with some of them sealing off than ZANU-PF in the area. their areas from the MDCs and also • Zaka West (MSV) - ‘Anyone supporting the colluding with the war veterans and youth MDC is traitor and a sell-out’. officers to campaign on behalf of ZANU- • Shurugwi South (MDL) - if you don’t vote for 19 PF especially in Masvingo province, Zanu-PF land will be seized Manicaland and Mash West.

The Political Parties Finance Act provides for annual state funding for political parties. The funds are disbursed based on the proportion of the seats that the party won in the previous election. Whilst this is positive move, it means that those parties which did win seats in the previous election cannot quality and any new emerging party no matter how much popular support it has will still not qualify. It also prohibits foreign funding of Zimbabwean political parties. Unlike in previous elections there have been no public reports of disbursement of funds to political parties. But it is quite evident from the level of campaigning and advertising, that the major parties are very well funded even as smaller parties are

17 ZESN Long Term Observer Reports 18 Global Political Agreement, Article 14. 19 ZESN Long Term Observers Report

23 complaining about funding. Speculation has been that ZANU-PF has been using diamond revenue for campaigning whilst the MDCs are relying on foreign funding. Given the fact that there are no robust measures for electoral finance regulation, these allegations are unlikely to be investigated fully.

The law provides that where state resources are used for election campaigning purposes they must not be used in a favour of a particular party over others. If parties are to use state resources, they should not do so for free but should pay the required fee. This applies to the use of government resources such as public spaces for rallies and meetings, use of telephones and offices in general. It also applies to using the time of employees on the government payroll to campaign for the particular party or candidate. This applies also to any entity anything that is government owned such as the government media, or state airline. The use and abuse of state resources often stems from incumbency as those in power inevitable combine their official duties with campaigning for their party. In this campaign the abuse of state resources has been observed in a number of areas.

Firstly is the continued abuse of the state media by ZANU-PF. For example, the state broadcaster, ZBC gave wide coverage to the launch of the ZANU-PF election campaign. When it was requested to do the same for the MDC-T’s launch of tis political campaign the party was charged $165, 000. This is in direct contravention of the Section 160G (1) of the Electoral Act which states that “Public broadcasters shall afford all political parties and independent candidates contesting an election such free access to their broadcasting services as may be prescribed “. And coverage of the campaign has remained skewed in favour of ZANU-PF. This is also reflected on all the state owned radio which not only gives ZANU-PF more airtime than all other parties combined but does so in a partisan manner.

Another area where there has been abuse of state resources has been in the distribution of food aid to vulnerable communities. It has been reported that in those communities where citizens receive food aid from the state, they are told that it is coming from ZANU-PF or from President Mugabe. In some communities people have to buy ZANU-PF cards first before receiving food. In this case these state resources are not only being abused in order to get votes but also to raise funds for the party through the purchase of the cards.

Youth officers and soldiers, who are paid by the government, have also been used to campaign for ZANU-PF in a clear case of abuse of state resources. This is particularly so in the case of youth officers who are reported to be campaigning for ZANU-PF all over the country. In some areas soldiers are also campaigning for ZANU-PF and intimidating voters as they do so.

 Vote buying for these elections has been much in evidence. For example when President Mugabe held a star rally at Nzvimbo growth point on 11 July, the First Lady Grace Mugabe donated several food items to the to the community. The next day, Elizabeth Tsvangirai the wife of the MDC Presidential candidate donated goods at Simbala Clinic and Binga Hospital. In Marondera East the MDC was allegedly buying votes using sewing machines. These are the tip of the iceberg. Other vote buying strategies have also been the state hand outs such as grain and farming inputs which have been more or less hijacked by ZANU-PF. In the Midlands constituency of Mkoba a new party the United Movement for Democracy Party (UMDP) is said to have bought voters using cash. On 22 July, the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Mr Chombo who represents ZANU-PF ordered

24

all 92 rural and councils to write off debts for rates owed by residents. Whilst cautiously welcomed by residents the move was also seen by some as an attempt by ZANU-PF to curry favour with the voters just in time for elections. Further, Zanu Pf has been handing out teapots and Chinese torches in a bid to charm the support of impoverished Gwanda community.  Other candidates were dishing out election-related goodies are Mines minister Obert Mpofu, Ray Kaukonde, Godwills Masirembwa, Paul Chimedza, Dexter Nduna and Munyaradzi Kereke. There was great need to renounce the practice of granting favours to the voting public for the purpose of influencing the outcome of elections.

9. THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN AND YOUTH

There are a number of positive signs in terms of the participation of women in the elections. These begin at the election management level itself. The law says that apart from the chairperson, at least four of the ZEC commissioners should be women20. Currently both the chairperson and the deputy chairperson are women. This means that out of the nine commissioners there are five women. The commission has also demonstrated a commitment to gender issues by introducing a gender data collector for the polling stations on Election Day. It is hoped that the information will be useful in improving the participation of female voters in future elections.

Another improvement for women in the 2013 is the introduction of 60 seats reserved for women in the National Assembly. This means out of the total of 270 seats in the National Assembly at least 22% of will be female even before the Election Day. This is meant to address electoral bias as women often face more obstacles in standing as election candidates. Each of the party lists for the senate begins with a woman followed by a man then a woman and so on. This form of ordering of candidates on the party lists demonstrates a strong commitment shown by parties to inclusion of women in governance. This formula has also been repeated on the lists for the provincial councils of the non-metropolitan provinces. However, women were relegated to quota and a few 44 out of 210 candidates for National Assembly.

Although women make up over 50 % of the Zimbabwean population this is not reflected in the number of women who are standing for elections. For example there are no female presidential candidates. The percentage of female candidates standing in the national assembly is roughly 8% of the candidates. This already lower that the 18% achieved in 2008. It seems that parties have taken advantage of the quota seats and fielded most of their women candidates there. It is possible therefore that the quota of 60 women in the national assembly may not have the intended effect. Forty four women from the two major political parties ZANU PF and MDC-T will be contesting out of 210 seats. Quotas can be interpreted to mean that those who benefit from them are not as able as those who used competitive means. Therefore whilst they may increase the numbers of women in parliament, they may also have a negative impact on perceptions of those women.

Youth have often used by political parties to perpetrate violence throughout the election campaign. Given their limited incomes they tend to be vulnerable to abuse by political parties. Due to the fact that

20 The Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013

25 they also do not have strong lobbyists, they have not been given due consideration when it comings to standing as candidates. For this election however a number of campaigns such as the X1G campaign run by a coalition of NGOs have conducted intensive programmes targeted primarily at first time voters encouraging them to register and afterwards to actually go out and vote. The campaign used methods that are youth oriented such as social media, WhatsApp and youth oriented messages.

On the other hand, whilst there is much talk of youth when it comes to jobs and to indigenisation of the economy most youth empowerment programmes are focused on economics rather than on politics. As of yet, parliament has no quota system for youths or any campaigns to promote youth in the same way that women have been promoted through the reserved seats. Even though the minimum age to stand as a councillor and national assembly member is 21 there have also not been any major national programmes to promote youth candidature. A number of organisations have conducted training programmes for prospective youth candidates. Even though there are young candidates in both the parliamentary and local authority elections, there is more that can be done to increase youth candidature.

10. MEDIA

One of the key reform areas of the GPA was the area of media specifically the liberalisation of the broadcasting arena. Whilst there are a wide variety of daily and weekly newspapers most display various degrees of partisan reporting. The state controlled publications h tend to report favourably on ZANU-PF and negatively on other parties. The opposite is true of the private print media which favours the MDCs and other parties that are not ZANU-PF.

The state owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) operates four radio stations and two television channels, ZTV 1 and ZTV 2 all displaying partisanship towards ZANU-PF. Until 19 July there were no privately owned television stations in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans used to watch South African television channels through the Wiztech satellite decoders but this signal was scrambled in June. Zimbabwe also has access to international news channels through the DSTV decoders.

On 19 July Zimbabwe’s first independent TV channel was launched. The channel which broadcast for free is available online, through the aforementioned Wiztech channels and on the DSTV platform. George Charamba, President Mugabe’s spokesman has threatened to ‘cripple’ the pirate station21 which seems to violate section 61 (1a) of the new constitution which says that “every person has the right to freedom of expression, which includes— (a) freedom to seek, receive and communicate ideas and other information”22

The state owned radio stations and ZBC-TV are the only forms of media that have national coverage and as reports from media monitors have shown these same state institutions and state newspapers are the ones that have shown great degrees of bias towards ZANU-PF and against the MDCs

21 ‘Government plans to cripple new TV station’http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-11749- Govt%20to%20%E2%80%98cripple%E2%80%99%20new%20TV%20station/news.aspx 22 Constitution of Zimbabwe Section 61

26 particularly the MDC-T. And citizens can also tune in to alternative so called ‘pirate’ radio stations which broadcast into the country using the shortwave signal such as Studio 7, SWRadioAfrica and Voice of the People. These have long been a target of the state. One of the principles of the GPA was that these external broadcasts should be controlled23. On 19 February the police banned the possession and distribution of short wave radios alleging that they are being used to spread hate speech and cause dissent during the upcoming elections. Recent months have also seen attacks on journalists by political party supporters. This shows a worrying trend of intolerance to the media.

In addition there is wide use of the internet to read online news from all over the world. Social media has become increasingly significant in the electoral field with a number of candidates and non- governmental organisation using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to campaign, to educate voters and make commentaries on the electoral process. Online debates on politics are also quite prevalent and reaching a wide audience. The Zimbabwe social media landscape has been re- invigorated by the emergence of a Facebook page belonging to a ‘Baba Jukwa’. Baba Jukwa is someone who claims to be a renegade senior ZANU-PF member who is in the business of exposing the goings on in the ZANU-PF. There has been much speculation about the identity of Baba Jukwa including purported raids on this headquarters and the revelation of his identity. There is no doubt that his presence has opened up a lot of discussion about ZANU-PF and to a large extent demystified the party. The population particularly in urban areas has access to many online newspapers.

Table 4: Attacks on Journalist May-June 2013. Name of Journalist Designation Date Description Various Reporters from various 21 June Kidnapped and held by ZANU-PF news organisations supporters at the party’s headquarters Paul Pindani Freelance Reporter 14 June Assaulted by alleged ZANU-PF supporters Bernard Reporter-Masvingo Mirror 8 June Allegedly Manhandled by MDC-T Mapwanyire security staff during the party’s primaries. Herbert Moyo Reporter –The 7 June Was assaulted whilst covering a Independent newspaper protest by supporters at MDC-T Mashudu Reporter – The Chronicle 8 June Assaulted by members of the Prime- Netsianda newspaper Minister’s entourage 8 June Dumisani Muleya Editor and Chief Reporter- 7 May Arrested for allegedly publishing and Owen Gagare The Independent falsehoods

23 Global Political Agreement -Article 19.1(c) (i)

27

11. SPECIAL VOTING

Special voting was introduced in the Electoral Amendment Act to allow those persons within Zimbabwe who are deployed on official duty away from the ward where they are registered to cast their ballot before the day of the election so that they have the opportunity to exercise the right to vote. The commission is charged in Section 81 of the Electoral Act with establishing, based on the number of successful applications for special voting to establish polling stations at district level where these special voters can cast their ballots.

The law requires that those who want to use the special voting facility must apply for authorisation to the electoral commission and can only vote with the special authorisation letter. Those who vote using the special vote which is supposed to take place 14 days before the election cannot vote on Election Day. And their names are supposed to be crossed off in the rolls that are disbursed to the wards and constituency where they are registered.

On the face of it the special vote is a good mechanism to ensure that people are not disenfranchised because of carrying out their official duties. However historically the safety of ballots cast before Election Day and indeed their integrity has long been a feature of Zimbabwe’s electoral conflict. In the past officers deployed in Zimbabwe used postal vote but this system was shrouded in secrecy and therefore cause for suspicion of vote rigging. In the past this conflict was focused on the postal votes, which are still also part of the electoral framework. Many times the election administrators have been accused of using the postal ballots to manipulate elections.

So for the first time, special voting was conducted in Zimbabwe. And there were questions from the start. According to ZEC24, 69,322 police officers applied for the special vote. The number appeared to be high in comparison to the actual size of the police force. However the explanation was that the increase was due to members of the constabulary or reserve police officers who would also be deployed on Election Day. Thus special voting was planned for 14-15 July as it had to be conducted 16 days before the poll. 209 polling stations were established in districts around the country. Polling was conducted in the same manner as a normal polling station except with fewer staff. The table below shows that not all those eligible to vote managed to vote. This was due to the fact that there were not enough ballot materials especially ballot papers.

24 ‘ZEC apologises over special vote fiasco at http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-11733- ZEC+apology+over+special+vote+fiasco/news.aspx

28

Table 5- Special vote statistics from ZEC.

Province Ballot unclaimed Ballot unused Ballots voted

1. Manicaland 990 3383

2. Harare 5414 2 9528

3. Bulawayo 211 860 1303

4. Mash Central 641 3121

232 4126 5. Mash East 285 2743 6. Mash West

7. Mat South 691 1270

983 3998 8. Mat North 80 20 envelopes 1951 9. Midlands without ballots 10. Masvingo 4108 349 Total 35 531

The commission then issued a notice indicating that those who had been unable to vote on special voting day would be allowed to vote during the Election Day. This creates a legal quandary for ZEC because allowing those police officers who could not vote during the special vote to vote on the election violates Section 81B (2) of the Electoral Act. On Tuesday 23 July, ZEC applied for to the constitutional court for leave to allow those who could not vote on the 14th and 15th July to vote on Election Day. On 26 July, the court granted ZEC’S petition, citing Section 67 of the constitution which grants the right to vote to every citizen of Zimbabwe. Meanwhile ZEC reports that 262 applications were received for postal voting and voting took place in 42 diplomatic missions around the country in the week beginning 22 July and the ballots are on their way to Zimbabwe for processing and transmission to the wards of the different voters25. In an unfortunate addendum to the special voting fiasco, marked special ballot papers were discovered and handed to the ZEC. How these papers were lost, how many other ballot papers such as these are out there and why they were not at the polling station on 14 and 15 July is an electoral mystery However there are questions that still need answers e.g. was the court ruling on

25 Diplomats cast their votes ahead of July 31-SW Radio.

29 special voting for the presidential election only or for the council, house of assembly and the presidential election? The-major worry is how these uniformed forces and civil servants will cast their vote as they will be on duty in places away from their wards. How do we verify who did not vote in the absence of a crossed voters roll?

12. CONCLUSION

The electoral process represents an opportunity for reversal the inconclusive 2008 election. We do hope this will save as a hallmark in steering Zimbabwe towards a culture of credible, peaceful elections. Whilst elections are a key ingredient of democracy it should be understood that they are not synonymous with democracy. Just as democracy is much more than elections, genuine elections are a requisite for it.

30