Zimbabwe - Elections 2000 - Sustainable Democracy

Zimbabwe’s fifth parliamentary elections present more than a tough challenge for observer groups from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) who must reconcile the disquiet over the selective accreditation of international monitors, an electoral process marred by violence and intimidation, and the impact of all this on transparency and the voter’s freedom to pick a party of choice.

With some of the international observers already pretty much decided on the “free and fairness” or lack it, of the electoral process, the two main missions representing the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the Electoral Commission’s Forum must grapple with a formula for determining to what extent the atmosphere surrounding this election -- no doubt the most closely watched poll in the region and probably the world in recent memory -- has been conducive to voter participation.

Barely a week ago at Windhoek in Namibia, electoral management bodies and other cross-sectoral participants from southern Africa agreed that norms and standards must be established to provide guidance in regional elections “and act as points of departure in key areas such as representivity and inclusion in the administration of elections, equity in financing of parties, and clarify in the definition of free and fair”.

The Southern African Elections Forum, as it was called, constituted a task force to look critically at these and other areas and invite electoral commissions in countries going to elections in the next 12 months to work with the group on the application of the framework.

A regionally acceptable criteria of what constitutes a “free and fair” election might help the observer missions to make more concrete judgment of any given election in the 14 member countries of SADC, it was felt.

International missions have lately tended to avoid the term “free and fair” altogether and instead pronounce elections as “generally representative of the will of the people”, which is not a solution in itself.

“You would have to define what ‘generally representative of people’s wishes’ means; so you still have to come up with a criteria”, argues Professor John Makumbe, political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe.

The opposition parties, particularly the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has for months charged that its agents have been unable to reach the rural areas because of an alleged campaign of terror waged by supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African People’s Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), spurred largely by war veterans invading white-owned farms.

ZANU-PF in turn accuses MDC of orchestrating a similar violent campaign against its supporters. Advance missions of international observer teams, such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI) of the United States, cast doubt on the free and fair process--and in the end, were refused accreditation because they were deemed to have ‘already decided’.

“The refusal to accredit observers violates international standards for democratic elections and is counter to the practice of Zimbabwe’s neighbours and virtually all democratic countries,” NDI President Kenneth Wollack reacted.

Others such as the International Republican Institute, non-governmental organizations and selected observers with links to the Zimbabwe’s former colonial master, Britain, were barred by the government of Zimbabwe -- the result of poor relations between the two countries issuing from the land occupations.

The chairperson of Zimbabwe’s Electoral Directorate, Mariyawanda Nzuwa said the hundreds of teams from all over the world that had not been accredited were free to go round the country “but not to enter the polling stations”.

“When the government decided to invite international observers, it was agreed that we would have classes of observers such as delegations from sovereign states sent by their governments to observe the elections. These have been accredited,” he told reporters.

Only 302 in the end were able to get accreditation, including the SADC Parliamentary and Electoral Commissions Forum, the latter after days of waiting, the European Union, the Commonwealth, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and teams from Belgium and Canada. New Zealand, Japan, Finland, Spain and Australia.

The World Council of Churches and the International Catholic Justice and Peace Commission were among those to be denied.

Secretary-General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum Dr. Kasuka Mutukwa said accreditation was a matter for a sovereign nation but added that intending observer missions needed advance knowledge of the selection process.

“There are variations from country to country; one hopes that in future, it is predictable; so we should know in advance whether to come or not,” he said.

The head of the SADC parliamentary observer mission, Norah Seimming-Chase, raised concerns about the barring of organizations such as the World Council of Churches, taking into account their significant role in the struggle for independence of southern African states.

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) mission leader, Professor Amos Sawyers, concerned by the development, said his team would raise the denial of accreditation to international observers with the electoral authorities of Zimbabwe.

The judgment of the SADC missions will be a source of much interest and will certainly indicate just how far member states of the economic bloc are prepared to be honest with each other.

The Parliamentary Forum team, Mutukwa said, had taken note of the “strengths and weaknesses” of the process so far and would hand a detailed report to the Electoral Supervisory Commission--one of the three bodies that have been handling elections.

In fact the seemingly over-lapping roles of the Electoral Supervisory Commission and the Registrar-General’s Office and the Electoral Directorate caused fellow participants at the Southern African Elections Forum in Windhoek to seek clarification on who exactly was in charge.

Ben Mpala, administrative officer in the Registrar-General’s Office explained that the Electoral Supervisory Commission over-sees registration of voters, conduct of elections, examines electoral legislation and pronounce whether elections were “free and fair”.

The Commission also appoints monitors while the Directorate was a body of permanent Secretaries coordinating the activities of government departments to facilitate efficient registration of votes and conduct of polls.

The Registrar-General has however taken charge of most of the election, prompting the Commission to challenge government in courts of law-albeit unsuccessfully- over the accreditation of observers by the two other bodies.

Of increasing worry to some opposition and observer teams, is the limiting of the number of polling agents to one per station.

Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede explains: “We have constituencies where there are eight candidates and if each candidate brings more than one agent, they will fill the polling station”.

Voting is on Saturday and Sunday. Counting starts at 20.00hrs Sunday night and results, according to Mudede, on Monday.

Political analysts meanwhile present a set of post-election scenarios that could either make or break the 20-year-old nation. Professor Masipula Sithole, another political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe believes a ZANU-PF victory would invite international sanctions, particularly with perceptions of an unfair process abounding. The country, he adds, would be economically crippled within a year.

An opposition win would gain wider acceptance with no violence or the feared back-lash, he says. Roger Mpande, an agro-economist paints a picture of food shortages, declining agricultural production and loss of ground in exports of seed and beef to competing countries such as Botswana and South Africa should the stand-off with international institutions and donors continue after elections.

Farm invasions by war veterans had already started the process of decline in tobacco production and export, one of the main foreign exchange earners, he said.

Makumbe gives gives three scenarios, one of which sees the ruling party accepting the results of a substantially increased opposition in parliament and compromising on a government of national unity, with Robert Mugabe as President.

With only hours remaining, observers can only wait and see whether calm in the voting process can salvage much of the integrity of this election (SARDC).