ELECTION RESOURCE CENTRE STATEMENT
Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South) – The Election Resource Centre (ERC) cherishes the culture of engagement which characterized the electoral landscape since the 2013 polls.
Although the engagement comes with various challenges, it is a positive step considering the history of Zimbabwe where stakeholders were previously shunned.
Indeed that opportunity to dialogue on varying electoral concerns culminated in improved levels of confidence and trust in the electoral administration system.
The ERC however notes with concern the apparently shrinking space for constructive engagement between the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and some stakeholders particularly Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and political parties.
On Thursday the 20th of April 2017, ZEC invited election stakeholders for an Observer Briefing which was held at the ZEC Headquarters in Harare.
The briefing marked the beginning of the site validation test of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits for shortlisted suppliers which will be done in the next week.
During the briefing, observers were cautioned against public statements on the process and engagement with bidders. It was emphasised that stakeholders and observers must not interfere with the process by having conversations or any form of interaction with ZEC staff.
TheERC’s major concern is that ZEC is seemingly gaging observers by restricting them to merely watching and not saying anything which is a direct threat to transparency and inclusivity.
This creates unnecessary loss of trust on administration of critical electoral processes.
Transparency relates to allowing stakeholders to scrutinise the process and can only be achieved by questioning the process for it to be fully understood.
Zimbabwe is at such a crucial stage in the electoral cycle that requires constructive relations between the Election Management Body and all electoral stakeholders and most importantly the opening up of space for oversight by stakeholders.
Strained relations will only set the country towards another disputed election, a development which we can ill afford as stakeholders.
To guarantee its commitment to transparency, the Commission must accept to be questioned and allow stakeholders to scrutinise the ongoing process.
The ERC believes that electoral democracy can best be achieved through constant engagement among electoral stakeholders and serious observance of the principle of transparency.
The ERC implores ZEC to open up space for the electorate, civil society, political parties, media and development agencies to effectively participate in the site validation test of BVR kits and all other critical electoral processes to follow. This will not only rekindle the fledgling spirit of engagement through continued creation of platforms for engagement with key stakeholders but will go a long way in enhancing transparency, inclusivity and integrity of the electoral processes.
ZEC is hereby urged to put in place mechanisms that allow for effective participation and engagement of all electoral stakeholders including civil society, political parties, the media and the electorate.
Electoral stakeholders must constantly be consulted and be informed about all electoral processes in line with Section 239 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which provides that “ZEC must ensure that elections are conducted efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law.”
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