The Electoral Reform Bill, a scratch on the surface

By Youngerson  Matete 

On the 18th of November 2022, the government of Zimbabwe through the ministry of justice parliamentary and legal affairs gazetted the electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) which sought to amend certain sections of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2;13), (NO.25 of 2004). The Parliament of Zimbabwe went on to conduct public consultations as per the demands of the constitution. The consultations were done on the 30th and 31st of January, 2023 on radio and zoom platform. The consultations have since ignited a debate about electoral reforms ahead of the 2023 harmonized elections in Zimbabwe. 

It is against this background that I seek to analyse the importance of the electoral reforms to both the government and the opposition. I also take time to analyse the electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) that is currently before the Parliament of Zimbabwe and the manner in which the consultations were done and its effects.

After the 2018 harmonized elections, various local, regional and international Election Observer Missions (EOMs) that observed the July 30 elections put forward around 223 recommendations that will help strengthen Zimbabwe’s electoral processes. This was after a disputed presidential election result that sparked violence in the streets of Harare on the 1st of August 2018. In my analysis of the electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) I will try to highlight some of the recommendations of the Election Observer Missions (EOMs), compare the bill to the constitution of Zimbabwe, regional and international instruments that Zimbabwe has ratified. 

The Importance of electoral reforms to Zanu-Pf

After the November 2017 military coup or as some like to call it, a military assisted transition in Zimbabwe, President ED Mnangagwa who took over from long time ruler Robert G Mugabe enjoyed both local and international good will after he had managed to charm Britain with his promise to implement electoral reforms in Zimbabwe. International doors were slowly being opened for the ZANU-PF led government by many Western countries as Mr Mnangagwa pushed his engagement and re-engagement foreign policy in an attempt to bring Zimbabwe back into the global community after a long time in the wilderness.

The 2018 elections dispute that led to the death of six civilians in the hands of the military on August 1 created a legitimacy crisis for ZANU-PF and President ED Mnangagwa that negatively affected the government’s engagement and re-engagement policy as Nelson Chamisa and the then MDC Alliance refused to recognize the government of ED Mnangagwa. To this date the ZANU-PF government stills desires some sort of legitimacy and they are keen to solve this issue in the 2023 harmonized elections. They do not want any legitimacy crisis to continue to hover around their heads post 2023 elections. This is why the electoral reforms are important to ZANU-PF. They want to try and portray to the international community that they are reforming ahead of the elections at the same time they are afraid of genuine reforms as this will most likely spell the end of their hold to power. ZANU-PF will want to try and deceive the international community with piecemeal reforms but they will never commit to genuine electoral and political reforms as it is their basis to hold on to power. 

The Importance of electoral reforms to the opposition

ZANU-PF will obviously welcome a return to the international community as evidenced by their push to re-join the commonwealth. They can however afford to live without the west as they have already been alienated for a long time. 

While ZANU-PF can afford to do without meaningful reforms as this actually guarantees their return of power, the opposition do not enjoy such privileges. It is thus a no brainer that the electoral reforms are more important to the opposition in Zimbabwe particularly the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) which is the main opposition political party with a chance to wrestle power from ZANU-PF come the 2023 harmonized elections. The CCC cannot afford an election without proper reforms as this will minimize their chances of success in the elections and if CCC fails to win the 2023 elections, the party will likely suffer a decrease in support from the general people as much of its support base is already beginning to show some symptoms of fatigue. 

The general Zimbabweans are now losing hope and many have given up. An electoral loss for the CCC will only exacerbate the belief that maybe no one is capable of dislodging ZANU-PF. Attempting to do such will be viewed as just an exercise in futile and something that Zimbabweans need not waste time on. 

The loss for CCC can also lead to the split of the party as cracks that are beginning to emerge will go full-scale. At present, the only thing holding political opportunists within CCC to go for the head of Nelson Chamisa is the hope that he might win the 2023 harmonised elections hence electoral reforms are a matter of life and death for the CCC 

An analysis of the electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022)

The electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) that was gazetted by government may appear as an innocuous bill, but appearances are rather deceptive. Many of its provisions are unconstitutional as they were necessitated by constitutional amendment act 2 which is currently being challenged at the constitutional court. The electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) is grossly inadequate as it fails to solve much of the recommendations of the Election Observer Missions (EOMs). The Bill is a scratch on the surface that doesn’t meaningfully address the fundamental reforms which are much needed for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.  

Failure to address the issues of the voters roll

While the electoral act in section 20&21 provides for the storage, maintenance and distribution of the voters roll. It is important to note that the storage, maintenance and distribution of the voters roll has been a contentious issue in the history of the Zimbabwean elections since 2000 with opposition parties being denied access to an auditable and verifiable voters roll. 

The bill should have included the independent audit of the voters roll to curb issues of ghost voters and other electoral malpractices. The bill should also have provided timelines for the distribution of the voters roll at affordable prices to political stakeholders. It should have, as a matter of fact, pronounced that ZEC should avail the voters roll 14 days after the nomination court. This will give enough time for political stakeholders to analyse and familiarize with the voters roll ahead of the elections breaking away from the norm that ZEC gives opposition parties a hard copy a few days before the elections making it difficult for political parties to audit it. This would have gone a long way to ensure free and fair elections as stipulated by section 155 of the constitution of Zimbabwe that talks about principles of the electoral processes in Zimbabwe.

Failure to fulfil universal suffrage

The constitution of Zimbabwe in section 155 provides for principles of electoral systems in Zimbabwe. One of these provisions is that elections in Zimbabwe must be based on universal adult suffrage. The electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) failed to address issues of the diaspora and prison vote. The bill, in that regard, doesn’t align with the constitution as it continues to further perpetuate exclusion of Zimbabweans living in the diaspora and in prison from voting hence it fails to ensure adult universal suffrage as per the demands of the constitution. 

Failure to address the issue of the independence of ZEC

One of the major contentious issue in the Zimbabwe Electoral processes is the independence of the electoral management board (EMB). 

Although the electoral act stipulates that no member or anyone who works for the commission should associate with any political party, it doesn’t address the issue of the employment of serving securocrats in the secretariat of the commission given that the security forces are heavily invested in Zimbabwean politics with traceable records of their support to the ruling party. Their appointment of securocrats to the secretariat is a bit problematic as they already have interest in the outcome of the elections. 

Although the constitution in section 240 says that chapter 12 commissions are not allowed to employ someone who is employed at institutions that are controlled by government, there have been cases of people who retire from the army towards election and return back to the army soon after elections. The motive of these people cannot be trusted hence this bill should have stated that a person who have served in the security sector can only be employed by the commission after five years of retirement. This will ensure the independence of the commission. 

Failure to address issues of Inclusivity

The electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) fails to promote inclusivity. The bill seeks to insert the youth and women’s quota but it doesn’t state how people with disabilities are going to be included in the proposed quotas. Out of 60 women on PR, for example, it doesn’t say how many are supposed to be women with disability. Out of 10 seats of youth, it also doesn`t say how many are supposed to be of people with disabilities and how many should be for young women. This means that the bill doesn’t promote inclusivity especially towards people with disabilities. 

Failure to address issue of secrecy of the ballot

The issue of assisted voters has been a challenge in Zimbabwe, this has largely drew criticism from the people with disabilities. Although the constitution provides for secrecy of the ballot in section 155 as a principle of electoral systems. The bill should have provided for a special ballot paper for people that are visually impaired; this would have helped in upholding their right to a secret ballot and reduce cases of assisted voters. Sadly, the bill missed the opportunity to promote secrecy of the ballot by failing to provide a brail voters roll. 

In conclusion 

It is important to highlight that the constitutional amendments that gave rise to this Bill are being challenged at the constitutional court, and if they are found to be invalid most of the contents of this bill will be invalid as well. The electoral reform bill (HB 11, 2022) fails to address much of the 2018 electoral reforms recommendations by the election observer mission. It is however important to note that ZANU-PF will want to appear like they are initiating electoral reforms in order to deceive the international community. This is the reason why parliament, which is largely dominated by ZANU-PF, opted for virtual consultations which were disrupted by cyber-attacks. Virtual platforms are not accessible to many Zimbabweans who can not afford data and those who stay in rural areas where there is no internet connectivity or radio frequency. 

It is important for the opposition and civil society to engage the international community to pressure ZANU-PF to initiate electoral reforms. The international community must use the quest by ZANU-PF government to return to the global community as leverage. The fact that Zanu-Pf came up with piecemeal reforms to deceive the international community shows how much they long to normalize relations with the west. The regional leaders especially South Africa should pressurise ZANU-PF to reform because failure to have a free and fair elections will massively have an effect on South African economy as Zimbabweans will cross the Limpopo River in large numbers. 

In a nutshell, the electoral reform bill missed an opportunity to address many issues that have been affecting our electoral processes. 

Youngerson Matete is a pro-democracy and Human Rights activist, a student of Political Science. He is the founder of Project Vote 263, a youth-led initiative to foster inclusive participatory democracy in Zimbabwe. He writes in his own capacity. His views doesn't not represents any organisation.

Cell : +263 773 622 044

Email: youngmatete0@gmail.com/ director@projectvote263.org.zw