2.4.2 Elections As was stated earlier, since 1980, human rights violations have generally been more prevalent during election years, and this has been even more strongly the case since 2000. At the time, the 2000 general election was reckoned to have been the most violent election since 1980, but it was soon eclipsed by the 2002 Presidential election. Against the background of the now-notorious land invasions and nationwide political violence, ZANU PF retained power in 2000, but with a greatly reduced majority and the loss of its previous two-thirds majority. Again the election was disputed and the MDC immediately lodged petitions with the High Court of Zimbabwe, alleging that there had been serious irregularities with the elections in 38 constituencies. ZANU PF lodged one petition. Contrary to the intention of the Electoral Act, there was no speedy processing of the petitions and, furthermore, inorder to purge the judicial system of “unsympathetic” judicial officers , the government began a process of vilifying Supreme and High Court judges and placing them under pressure to leave the bench. This resulted in the resignation of the chief justice and the resignation in quick succession of other Supreme and High Court judges. This affected the resolution of electoral petitions. Clearly the intention of the Electoral Act is that election petitions are heard speedily as it is antithetical to the very objective of elections that incumbents who may have been unlawfully elected occupy and exercise their powers of office., The need for speedy resolution of these disputes was made all the more imperative by the reaction of the international community to the elections. However, as the most comprehensive analysis of the petition process observed, of the 39 original election petitions, only 16 were eventually heard by the High Court, which ruled that the results should be overturned due to electoral fraud and/or violence in seven of the cases19. Appeals against High Court rulings were made to the Supreme Court in 13 cases, with the MDC appealing six of the rulings against it and ZANU PF appealing all of the rulings against it. In the end, all petitions fell away, or became academic, due to the new election in 2005 This has meant that there was no legal resolution in Zimbabwean law of the alleged irregularities and that those Members of Parliament (MPs) who were the subject of the petitions, apart from those who have died, saw out the term of the 2000 parliament. This most certainly was not the intention of the process envisaged under the Electoral Act. This meant also that the problems surrounding the 2000 parliamentary elections persisted throughout the lifetime of the 2000-2005 parliament and created considerable enmity between the two parties. Thus, the stage was set for the 2002 presidential election. The expectation was that this would be the acid test of Robert Mugabe’s popularity. If few expected the violence that accompanied the 2000 parliamentary election, no one expected the 2002 presidential election to be less violent and some were surprised when it was not more violent. The Commonwealth had given an adverse report on the 2000 poll and had been trying hard through the Abuja Agreement to resolve the land dispute20. It made further attempts to influence the electoral process by putting pressure on Zimbabwe through the Commonwealth Minister’s Action Group. Shortly before the 2002 election the unusual step of warning the Zimbabwe government that failure to adhere to the principles of the Harare Declaration could lead to Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth21. The European Union (EU) declared “targeted” sanctions against a number of Zimbabwean political and other leaders, as did the United States under the Zimbabwe Economic and Democratic Recovery Act [ZEDERA]. There was considerable international concern that the election would not conform to basic democratic principles. The 2002 election was more acrimonious and violent than the previous one and, because there was expectation of widespread irregularities, monitoring of the process was far more diligent than in 2000. Several monitoring systems had been set in place since 2000. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum had been providing monthly reports, while the Zimbabwe Election Support Network had been developing its skills further by monitoring the by-elections in 2000 and 2001. A number of international organisations, such as Amnesty International, the International Bar Association, the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch had provided their own reports. The 2002 election itself became mired in multiple controversies, especially relating to the many legal challenges and the changes to the laws and regulations governing the elections, which continued right up to the start of the poll. The legal and procedural basis for the 2002 election was unclear right up to the morning of the first day of the election and continued through the election, with urgent applications being made to the courts to extend polling by another day because of the slowness in processing voters and the enormous queues of people unable to vote in urban areas before the polls closed. 19 20 21 Page 6 See Solidarity Peace Trust (2005), Subverting Justice: The role of the Judiciary in denying the will of the Zimbabwe electorate since 2000. MARCH 2005. ZIMBABWE & SOUTH AFRICA: SOLIDARITY PEACE TRUST. See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2001), Evaluating the Abuja Agreement, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM; Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2001), Evaluating the Abuja Agreement: Two Months Report, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM; Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2003), Zimbabwe, the Abuja Agreement and Commonwealth Principles: Compliance or Disregard? 8 September 2003, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM. At the 18th Meeting of CMAG, the following was agreed: The group expressed support for the initiative by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in encouraging a peaceful outcome to the situation in Zimbabwe in accordance with the rule of law and respect for human rights.