LYANDRA NYAMANDE
After President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced August as the month for this year’s harmonised elections, various researchers, journalists as well as politicians are wondering whether this election cycle will be a break with the past in terms of the willingness of the country to adhere to African Union (AU) and Sadc electoral guidelines.
This new election season comes against the backdrop of disputed elections in 2018, a scenario that cast legitimacy issues during President Mnagagwa’s current term.
While this potentially derailed the country from achieving political and economic unity in the period 2018 – 2023, disputed elections dent the reputation of the AU and SADC as arbiters of standard electoral practices which safeguard democracy in Africa.
However, it is important for citizens of Africa to engage in the discourse of electoral practices in Zimbabwe to ascertain whether the electoral performance of Zimbabwe in the last five years passes the credibility test of democracy in accordance with the standards of AU and SADC.
Moreover, the principles of SADC provide that member states hold elections to “establish impartial, all-inclusive, competent and accountable national electoral bodies staffed by qualified personnel.”
According to the Zimbabwe Diaspora Vote on 3 February 2023, it wrote to parliament urging the Electoral Act to be “amended such that the diaspora vote is managed in a manner that ensures the transparency and integrity of the entire electoral process as contained in item 7.8 of the SADC principles and guidelines” without which the 2023 elections lose inclusivity.
SADC also provides in Section 7.4 that member states “safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens including freedom of movement, assembly, association, expression, and campaigning as well as access to the media on the part of all stakeholders”.
With reference to the 2018 elections, the AU concluded: “The elections of 2018 are an important moment in the democratic transition of Zimbabwe and provides an opportunity for the country to change course, in particular, broadening the political space and allowing citizens to exercise their constitutional rights in a democratic way. By and large, the process was peaceful and well-administered.”
However, Tinashe Sithole who writes for African Liberty believes, “The opposition political parties’ perceive the election outcome as neither free nor fair.” Therefore, as a result there was post-election state-sponsored violence.
Sithole is skeptical about elections due lack of fundamental freedoms regarding freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly citing the current vilification of opposition personalities, musicians and journalists as well as the banning of opposition party events.
The African Union Elections Observer Mission recommended in most the need to guarantee equal access to the State Broadcaster to all contestants during elections in fulfilment of the Broadcasting Service Act to ensure balanced and pluralistic media.
But however, in 2018, these recommendations were not taken notice of. The AUEOM noted, “The media environment still remains largely polarized. While the Electoral law mandates ZEC to regulate the media during elections through the establishment of a Media Monitoring Committee, it has been unable to effectively operationalise this Committee, leading to a media environment that has operated without any systematic regulation during the 2018 election period”.
However, without requisite electoral reforms, the media of the environment of Zimbabwe for the 2023 election season remains favourable to the ruling Zanu-PF.
Article 5.1.4 of the SADC Principles and Guidelines instructs member states to provide justice in the resolution of electoral disputes through constitutional and electoral courts.
This is evidenced by looking at the fact that the MDC Alliance filed a petition in 2018 attempting to overturn ZEC’s decision to declare Mnangagwa the election winner due to alleged rigging.
The case was dismissed because the complainant could not prove the case beyond doubt, disregard of other issues pointed to an unfair environment.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network in its election observation report of 2018 concluded that the courts disregard “disregard for other issues indicated an unfair atmosphere” and insisted on the court’s lack of autonomy.
Zimbabwe Election Support Network would favour a situation in which Article 4.1.13 of the SADC Principles and Guidelines, which calls for the denouncing and rejection of non-acceptance of results issued by legally competent authorities, is followed.
The Zimbabwe International Election Observation Mission report of 2018 noted that while some significant improvements were demonstrated in the 2018 elections, Zimbabwe has not yet established a process that treats all political parties equitably and allows citizens to be confident that they can cast their vote and express their political opinion free from fear of retribution”. In short, the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe did not pass the credibility test and possible voter apathy feeds on the country’s inability to adhere to national, regional and continental electoral principles.
Lyandra Nyamande a final year international relations student at the Africa University. She can be contacted on nyamandel@africau.edu
