HARARE - Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission will not be able to hold elections next year as announced by President Robert Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai due to inadequate funding and the need to carry out reforms that will make the vote more credible.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have previously said elections were set for 2011 but political analysts say this is posturing meant to appeal to radical elements in their parties, who never wanted the current unity government that was formed last year.
Zanu (PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were forced into the marriage after disputed elections in 2008 and were supposed to terminate the union after a referendum on a new constitution. That process is already a year behind schedule.
ZEC chairman Simpson Mutambanengwe said the electoral commission had to first grapple with a voters roll that is in shambles and also lacked enough financial resources to hold elections which would not be challenged. Critics say the voters roll is outdated with thousands of dead people still appearing on the voters register and have accused Zanu (PF) of benefiting from the shambles.
The election date itself . . . it is a political decision. However, the timeframe is no longer what appears to be envisaged by the political parties because we have a very big task. The biggest challenge is financial resources to conduct elections, Mutambanengwe told journalists last week. The respected former High Court judge said ZEC was also in the process of carrying out reforms that would end past disputes.
Zimbabwes elections have in the past been blighted by violence and charges of vote rigging, which saw the European Union and United States slapping sanctions on Mugabe and senior members of Zanu (PF). We are engaging various stakeholders, the Registrar Generals Office, the Ministry of Justice and the political parties over electoral reforms. As it is, the voters roll is in disarray. It is a topical issue which needs to be addressed, said Mutambanengwe, who was addressing reporters during a workshop in Kariba.
We are working with the RG to clean up the roll. We have no differences at all with the RG but we need resources to sort out the voters roll, he said. ZEC members were sworn-in in March after an agreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
While in public Mugabe and Tsvangirai continue to urge their supporters to stay ready for elections, in private their officials say the next elections will only come after 2012.
Zimbabwe’s last election in 2008 ended in stalemate after Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe for the first time but election officials withheld results for five weeks, only to call for a run-off vote, which was marred by violence and boycotted by Tsvangirai citing deaths among his supporters at the hands of Zanu (PF).
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