By Blessing Vava
ZIMBABWE will hold general elections in 2023 to choose leaders for five years until 2028. Elections are coming against the background of disputed ones held in 2018.
The then Movement for Democratic Change Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa claimed massive rigging by the Zanu PF party. The 2018 elections were conducted barely seven months after the military coup that deposed the late Robert Mugabe from power.
The change from Mugabe to President Emmerson Mnangagwa did not, in any way, change the electoral playing field which remained tilted in the favour of Zanu PF. Suffice to say, it was not very strategic for Zimbabwe to go into an election just after a military coup without addressing the fundamentals which govern the conduct of elections.
Already, the military was deeply entrenched in the State, with key military personnel occupying very strategic positions across government departments, including the Judiciary and of particular note the supposed independent electoral body, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), which is charged with the duties of conducting elections in Zimbabwe.
After Zimbabwe adopted a new Constitution in 2013, the conditions for democratisation appeared to have improved with a certain level of tolerance on the part of the State. However, the conditions for reform were not sustainable, the State bickered in aligning the new Constitution with existing pieces of legislation which were not progressive.
The situation became more compounded and authoritarian repression became more pronounced a few months after the coup and post the 2018 election and it has not abated since.
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The outcome of elections in Zimbabwe, at least since the rise of serious opposition, has been received with mixed feelings. Most African observer missions, including the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union (AU) declared the outcome credible much to the contrary conclusion by observer missions from outside the continent, including the European Union.
In 2008, Zec took a whole month to announce the results of the presidential elections as it had emerged that the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had won the elections. In 2018, results were also disputed by the MDC Alliance. Mnangagwa won with 50,8% of the vote to Chamisa’s 44,3%.
The dispute spilt to the courts of law as the MDC Alliance leader Chamisa launched a Constitutional Court challenge to challenge the result of the elections, but lost, with the court declaring Mnangagwa the winner.
The credibility of that particular election left many Zimbabweans in doubt and without adequate electoral reforms elections will remain rituals in Zimbabwe and will not see the transfer of power.
What has changed?
As the country is preparing for by-elections to be held in March this year and harmonised elections in 2023 we need to ask ourselves very difficult questions if at all we have learnt any lessons from the history of stolen or rigged polls in Zimbabwe? Political parties are already campaigning to participate in the elections with little push for electoral reforms.
One would have thought that the demand for electoral reforms should be non-negotiable and a prerequisite before participation.
The confirmation of participation by the rebranded main opposition political party the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance into a new political outfit the Citizens Coalition for Change raises a lot of questions. From the 2018 elections, the MDC Alliance was sending signals and declarations that it would not participate in future elections unless electoral reforms are undertaken.
However, its participation in the upcoming by-elections without any meaningful reforms is a cause for concern.
The party’s spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere was not convincing about the party’s demand for electoral reforms.
Responding to questions from journalists on why the party was contesting the forthcoming elections without the implementation of reforms, she had this to say: “The party is ready for the by-elections, but there is need to implement electoral reforms, which are not negotiable — to solve the governance crisis in Zimbabwe.
“We need to align our electoral laws to the Constitution and there is need for full disbandment of the partisan and militarised Zec secretariat.”
The reality that it is now four years since the last elections without any meaningful reforms casts doubt over the credibility of the elections and it looks like we are headed for another electoral dispute as the method has not changed.
Already, several players including opposition parties and civil society have raised the red flag over the unevenness of the playing field a year before the elections. The proposals to introduce draconian pieces of legislation like the Private Voluntary Organisations Act (PVO Act), Patriotic Bill narrow whatever democratic space exists. The proposed pieces of legislation have the effect of creating conditions for a dictatorship.
Reform or perish?
In the final analysis, the basic tenets of democracy, therefore, include the right to vote, to belong to a party of one’s choice, to freedoms of expression, movement and association. It should be noted that the conduct of free and fair elections regularly is an indispensable ingredient of a democratic system. Ultimately, Zimbabwe needs an inclusive dialogue and a wide consensus on the conduct of the electoral process to ensure the legitimacy and credibility of elections.
The immediate challenge for democratic governance in the country is the creation of “an enabling environment” that enganders a climate of confidence in which reform can take place. We have seen how the ruling party has been amending the Constitution willy-nilly, stalling the realignment of laws, and how the credibility of the electoral process had declined. Confidence cannot be created and nurtured while repressive legislation is being introduced.
An important pillar for democratic governance will be a reformed electoral system. Zimbabwe needs an inclusive dialogue and a wide consensus on the conduct of the electoral process to ensure the legitimacy and credibility of elections. Therefore, there is a greater need for such reforms that would make the system transparent, fair and independent from political pressure.
- This opinion first appeared on Africa Blogging
- Blessing Vava is a PhD fellow at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds Honours and Masters of Arts degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand. In his multi-faceted life Vava serves as the regional co-ordinator of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
