Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-The Electoral Act is yet to be sufficiently aligned to the Constitution even as the 2018 elections draw near according to some experts.
In a report, Veritas Zimbabwe a group of legal experts, has drawn attention to porous parts of the elections governing law which they say provide room for abuse and disenfranchisement of potential voters.
“Since the new Constitution came into force in 2013, the Electoral Act has been amended no fewer than four times in repeated attempts to bring it into line with the Constitution.
“Despite all these amendments the Electoral Act is still not properly aligned to the Constitution: that is to say, it fails to give effect to some of the principles laid down by the Constitution, and some of its provisions are still unconstitutional”, it said.
“Under section 67 of the Constitution every adult Zimbabwean citizen has the right to vote in all elections and referendums. Paragraph 1(2) of the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution allows the Electoral Law to prescribe residential requirements, but only to ensure that voters are registered on the most appropriate voters roll – not to prevent them from being registered at all”
The Electoral Act, on the other hand, contains provisions that effectively prevent citizens from being registered as voters and prevent them voting even if they are registered such as Section 23 dealing with proof of residence, 27 focusing on cease of citizenship and 72 which disenfranchises those who can’t visit polling stations.
“Under section 235 of the Constitution the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC] is supposed to be independent and not subject to the direction or control of anyone.
Veritas contends that under the Act, however, ZEC’s independence is impaired by such provisions as Section 9(5) under which ZEC is not allowed to dismiss its Chief Elections Officer without the approval of the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
“Section 12(1): ZEC is not allowed to accept donations or grants from any non-government source without the Minister’s approval.
“Section 18(5): The Minister, not ZEC, is empowered to make regulations for mandatory automatic and electronic voter registration [“electronic voter registration” presumably means BVR]. The Minister has merely to consult ZEC about his regulations.
“Section 40H: The accreditation of election observers is not left to ZEC but is put largely in the hands of an Observers Accreditation Committee on which government is given excessive representation.
“Section 192(4): ZEC cannot make regulations regarding electoral procedures without the approval of the Minister”, it adds.
Veritas has since listed a number of other issues such as voter education, polling and the Electoral Court as among some gray issues which need redressal before the Electoral Act can be considered appropriate for a credible election.
The organisation itself has since produced a draft Bill which, if adopted and passed by Parliament, would bring all the provisions of the Electoral Act into line with the Constitution.
The reformation of the laws governing elections have remained a thorny subject with government sticking to its guns and refusing wholesale changes which observers reckon will even the field and annul the status quo’s unfair upper hand through institutional and legislative biases.
Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Jonathan Moyo has been on record stating that his party, ZANU PF, won’t reform itself out of power.
Meanwhile the opposition coalition focusing on reformation of electoral laws, National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) has been continuing its fight calling for the said reforms as the watershed 2018 elections draw near.
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