Makarau frustrates June poll

ZANU-PF’s controversial plan for a June poll has all but collapsed after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) revealed that a fresh 30-day voter registration would be conducted in line with the new constitution, as pressure mounts on the Global Political Agreement (GPA) principals to create a level electoral playing field ahead of the do-or-die elections.
The Registrar General (RG)’s Office along with ZEC have been carrying out voter registration starting on April 29 to May 19, but the exercise has been riddled by administrative hiccups attributed to funding constraints as well as systems and personnel failures.
The chaos seen at registration centres throughout the country seems to suggest that ZEC and the RG’s Office cannot cope with the increasing number of people turning up to register and should therefore go back to the drawing board to re-strategise.A number of citizens have been turned away from mobile registration centres despite possessing the correct documents. This has raised fears of massive disenfranchisement of voters, particularly in areas dominated by Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
Even PM Tsvangirai’s twin children had nightmares in registering as first time voters in Mount Pleasant, Harare on Monday.
Justice Rita Makarau, who has been a fresh breath of air at ZEC, has admitted as much that the electoral body has been overwhelmed.
On Tuesday, the ZEC chairperson and her entourage toured some of the registration centres in Harare to get firsthand experience of the process.
She declared afterwards that more time was needed for the exercise as the mobile registration units were failing to cope with the increasing number of people seeking to be registered.
ZEC’s latest position flies in the face of ZANU-PF which wants to rush the country into polls before any further reforms could be enacted.
Earlier in the week, ZANU-PF secretary for information and publicity Rugare Gumbo told the State media that the revolutionary party was opposed to a second voter registration.
President Robert Mugabe’s party has been adamant that polls should be held on or before June 29, which is only about six weeksaway.
But despite its pronouncements, indications on the ground suggest that ZANU-PF is also not yet ready for the make-or-break elections.
To start with, the party is still trying to put its house in order in the wake of the infighting that has erupted in the provinces.
Further complicating matters for ZANU-PF is that its leadership is still to come up with dates for primary elections to choose candidates for the forthcoming polls.
These internal issues now combine with other external pressures to derail ZANU-PF’s poll plan, which is now in disarray.
Last Friday, Makarau, said a fresh voter registration exercise should be rolled out once Constitutional Amendment No 20 Bill takes effect.
“We do not have information that section 6 (3) of the draft constitution has been repealed, so we still have additional 30-day voter registration period provided for by the draft constitution,” she told a meeting of political parties.
The 30-day voter registration might take the exercise possibly to mid next month.
Section 6 (3) of the new constitution says: “for the purpose of the first elections (after the inclusive government) the Registrar General of voters, under the supervision of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, must conduct a special and intensive voter registration and a voters’ roll inspection exercise for at least 30 days after the publication day (of the new constitution.)”
It goes on to say the forthcoming polls must also be conducted in terms of the electoral law that is in conformity with the new charter.
Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa has indicated that he would be tabling fresh amendments to the Electoral Act in Parliament in due course.
More hurdles have also poked holes into ZANU-PF’s poll plan.
Apart from the internal opposition to the June election timeline by the MDC parties, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is also insisting on the implementation of reforms before voting.
A SADC Troika meeting of the regional bloc’s Organ on Politics, Defence and Security held in Cape Town last week reiterated that local polls should only take place after all reforms have been implemented.
This week, ZANU-PF’s partners in the inclusive government warned that should President Mugabe proceed with his poll plan in violation of the constitutional requirement, his party would plunge the country into a crisis by staging an illegitimate poll.
Edwin Mushoriwa, the vice president of the Welshman Ncube-led MDC, said the electoral processes must follow the dictates of the law.
“After Mr Mugabe signs the constitution into law even next week, it means for the next 30 days there should be fresh voter registration. There is also the 14 days for the Nomination Court and this is the point we have been making, you won’t be able to have an election by June 29,” said Mushoriwa.
He said the process of aligning the laws and institutions to the new charter could push the poll date to mid August. But that would also pose another headache for President Mugabe since the country would be hosting the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly, in conjunction with Zambia that same month.
The MDC has since petitioned South African President Jacob Zuma, the mediator in the local dialogue, on the need for a fresh voter registration exercise in line with the new constitution.
Recently, the party decried that Chinamasa was yet to consult MDC formations on the electoral amendments, calling into question whether that could be done and an agreement hammered before passage in Parliament to allow polls before June 29, as sought by ZANU-PF.
PM also suggested this week that the only way out of this current quagmire was an October poll. This would however, require President Mugabe to enforce a constitutional provision that allows four months of executive authority after the dissolution of Parliament on June 29.
“After the signing of the constitution there would be one month compulsory voter registration. After that one month, there is another one month of voter inspection,” Tsvangirai was quoted as saying.
Political analyst, Gideon Chitanga, yesterday said ZANU-PF could be further isolated in the region and the African Union if it proceeds with its electoral plan in defiance of SADC.
“Of course this mischievous grandstanding is immature and will backfire because South Africa and Zuma enjoy much leverage in the region which they will quietly tap from to ensure that the GPA and SADC mediation, however slow their impact, remains the only game in town in as far as free and fair elections are concerned,” he said.