Electoral reforms designed to favour ZANU-PF

By Tererai Karimakwenda
19 April, 2007

Electoral reforms announced in the state media on Thursday have been strongly criticised due to government’s failure to consult other stakeholders and for tilting the playing field to favour the ruling party.
The state’s Herald newspaper reported that the government has almost completed the alteration of boundaries for Harare Metropolitan Province, in preparation for the joint elections due in 2008. The Minister of Local government Ignatius Chombo said the new boundaries would be gazetted soon and a similar exercise would be undertaken in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province and other cities and rural areas. The changes seek to increase the size of the electoral constituencies in Harare and Bulawayo, to include rural areas nearby.

Dr Reginald Matchaba Hove, director of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), said it is their position that any changes to electoral legislation should be done in full consultation with all stakeholders. This includes opposition political parties and also civil society. He added: “What government has done here goes contrary to what was agreed to in Dar-es-Salaam at the SADC summit. The idea was for President Mbeki to level the playing field before conducting elections. And if already one party is setting the agenda and altering the odds then this raises suspicion.” Matchaba Hove stressed that President Mbeki be advised of these changes and that he should strongly move to block them.

The electoral changes announced Thursday were approved at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. This was a day after Mugabe’s cabinet approved the harmonisation of presidential and parliamentary elections in 2008. But no other stakeholders were consulted in the process. Critics believe Robert Mugabe plans to scuttle any plans Mbeki may have. The South African president was recently appointed as the key mediator on Zimbabwe by regional heads of state at an extra ordinary summit in Tanzania. His task is to facilitate dialogue between the political parties, to lead to free and fair elections in 2008.

According to the Herald, Harare Metropolitan Province would be expanded by incorporating some parts of Mashonaland West, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central provinces. This means Harare’s current 45 wards will be increased to include more rural wards.
In Bulawayo, the change would be to incorporate some of the commercial farms where resettled farmers live. Large wards in rural areas would be subdivided to create more rural wards.

Matchaba Hove explained why suspicion over these changes is justified. He said: “If we look at the March 31st 2005 parliamentary elections, ZANU-PF won only one seat in Harare and that was Harare South which was a newly created constituency which predominantly consisted of rural areas, especially commercial farms that had been resettled.”

One media report from South Africa quotes a government official there who said President Mbeki would make sure SADC regulations on elections were adhered to in Zimbabwe. But Mbeki has so far made no attempt to even criticise the current government sponsored campaign of violence against the opposition, or urged Robert Mugabe to put an end to it.