Firstly, we need an impartial Electoral Commission; we still have the same old Zanu (PF) commission packed with “retired” military and CIO personnel. During the run-up to the referendum it did not even have a qualified substantive chairperson, only an “acting chair” who has served the Zanu (PF) cause diligently and above all else over the past 12 years.
Secondly, we need to insist on the rule that no police should be inside the polling stations while voting is going on. This rule is important, and was important even in the Golden Age in Britain when the friendly local “bobby” was expected to help old ladies and small children to cross the road and to be able to direct any stranger to where they wanted to go in his area. Elections must not only be free, but must be seen to be free. If they don’t look free, some people will be afraid, so they will not be free.
That is why teachers were always considered better polling officers than even “retired” policemen. In our case, this argument is even stronger; we know the police force and army are led by men who declared they would not obey any government they did not like and have declared themselves to be in rebellion against our elected Prime Minister. (I am only calling a spade a spade, not a “manual excavating implement”.)
Thirdly, and obviously, we cannot hold a free and fair election until those rebellious people are replaced by others who will observe their oath of loyalty to whatever government we elect.
Fourthly (I should have put this higher on the list) everybody must be free to vote as they choose, and to choose whether or not to vote. No forcing people to vote, as did happen in the referendum, and no forcing people which way to vote, which also happened when disabled people could not find someone they could trust to help them cast their votes.
Everybody must be able to inform themselves about the issues before voting. That means the press and broadcast media must be able to report and comment freely; everybody must be free to read whatever newspapers and listen to whatever radio or TV stations they want. We know that many were not this free, and they never will be until we have impartial international observers in the country from the beginning of any election campaign.
Enforcing all these things comes down to having enough observers. We might not need many outside observers if enough of us were ready to do the job for ourselves. In a parliamentary election, each party is entitled to have an observer in every polling station, from the arrival of the ballot boxes and papers to the final counting. If this country was a place where doing that was safe for all parties, we would at least have a balance between party interests. A few non-party observers would add impartiality to balance. If you want to volunteer, it is best to join some community organisation like your residents’ association or a church group like the Catholic Commission for Justice & Peace. Discreet and well-known elder citizens should be able to do the same job, on behalf of their community. I did in the 2000 referendum, but the atmosphere has changed, even in our community, since then.
Nobody can watch over our interests as well as we can ourselves: the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
Post published in: Analysis