Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-Government has been urged to allocate enough finance towards the 2018 elections so as to avoid inconveniences that will damage the credibility of the watershed polls.
2018 is likely to see a coalition of opposition parties, led by Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T and Mujuru’s ZimPF, facing-off against President Mugabe’s ZANU PF in polls that could define Zimbabwe’s next era in politics.
The call for funding, made by the Election Resource Center (ERC), comes at a time government is hard-pressed for cash and most unlikely to place elections at the top of its priorities.
In a statement the ERC said government has previously failed to fund elections adequately offering little funds to the requisite election management bodies.
“The Election Resource Centre (ERC) has called on the Minister of Finance and Parliament of Zimbabwe to ensure that the election budget for 2017 and 2018 is included in the current budget, as elections must be adequately planned for”.
“This comes against a background of an inadequate budget that was allocated to ZEC by treasury ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections”.
“The 2017 budget was presented on the 10th of December 2016 and ZEC was allocated USD9, 761 000 out of a requested USD59, 209 476 thereby leaving a deficit of USD49, 448 478”, it said.
The ERC argues that inadequate funding for ZEC will compromise the delivery of free, fair and credible elections.
A poorly resourced election is however unlikely to be foremost of the government’s concerns as civil servants have already signaled their intention to strike at the slightest show of non-payments of salaries.
Opposition parties have been calling for a free and fair election with an even field but with a cash-strapped ZEC the field is unlikely to be so leading to early predictions that post-2018 will be filled with a round of complaints against the conduct of elections again.
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