ZEC must explain itself

The two seats—Chirumanzu-Zibagwe and Mount Darwin West—fell vacant by virtue of Mujuru and Mnangagwa becoming vice presidents in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) must provide answers to burning and salient questions ahead of these polls.

To start with, ZEC must come out clearly and explain its role in the management of the voters’ roll that will be used in the by-elections. The commission recently virtually disowned the current roll when it turned down the MDC-T request, backed by a court order, to avail the roll. ZEC argued that it could not supply the list because it had not begun compiling the voters’ roll as provided for in its new mandate. Prior to that, the Registrar General’s office was in charge of the roll.

This statement by the commission is confusing to say the least. ZEC seems to be implying that it cannot preside over any voters’ roll at the moment because it has none to work with as it has not started compiling one. If that is correct, what then is it saying about the coming by-elections? How will it manage the constituency polls without a voters’ register? Since the by-elections have to go ahead on the basis of a roll, where does that leave the commission? How can it go ahead and conduct elections against a register it has disowned?

Clearly, the moment ZEC said it could not provide a roll because it had not started compiling one, it implied that it could not legitimately invoke the discredited register in the by-election. In effect, if it goes ahead and employs the existing roll, it would be entering the voting procedure with dirty hands. It has already admitted that it does not have jurisdiction over the roll.

If ZEC does not have that jurisdiction, then who does? It cannot be the RG’s office because, constitutionally, ZEC is the one that controls the voters’ rolls now. The major implication is that the by-elections would be contested and, at worst, illegal.

That lends support to the calls being made by some political parties and observers that the by-elections must be stopped and held only when there is a new, agreeable and credible roll in place. ZEC cannot proceed to conduct elections when, in effect, it has admitted that it is not ready to do so.