BIOMETRIC  VOTER  REGISTRATION  (BVR)  EXERCISE:   A  NATIONAL  AND  MATABELELAND  PERSPECTIVE   JANUARY  2018     Zimbabwe’s  electoral  processes  have  long  drawn  criticism  and  have  failed  to  receive  universal   recognition  as  being  ‘free  and  fair’.  There  have  been  multiple  factors  contributing  to  this,  and  the   various  elections  since  2000  in  particular  have  been  extensively  written  about  by  civic  organisations   in  Zimbabwe.41       The  electoral  conditions  that  have  resulted  in  negative  judgements  of  the  electoral  process  since   1980  have  included:     •   Wide  spread  political  violence,  perpetrated  predominantly  by  ZANU  PF  against  any  legitimate   opposition.  This  has  included  the  ‘Gukurahundi’  massacres  of  the  1980s  that  targeted  ZAPU  and   its  supporters,  and  the  intense  violence  against  MDC  supporters  during  the  presidential  run-­‐off   period  in  2008.  Both  involved  the  military  at  their  core.     •   The  use  of  either  the  military  directly  in  political  violence,  or  of  paramilitary  groups  such  as  the   war  veterans  and  youth  militia,  in  terrorizing  rural  civilians. �� •   Other  forms  of  electoral  coercion,  including  threats  of  violence,  threats  to  withhold  food,  health   care  or  agricultural  inputs  from  the  state,  if  people  campaigned  for  the  opposition  or  attended   their  rallies;  bullying  rural  voters  by  assuring  them  their  votes  were  not  secret;  allegations  of     certain  voters  allegedly  being  allowed  to  vote  multiple  times  at  different  polling  stations  in  the   same  constituency,  in  particular  uniformed  individuals42.     •   Abuse  of  state  run  media,  including  print,  radio  and  TV  to  push  only  the  message  of  ZANU  PF,  in   defiance  of  the  law;  undermining  the  freedoms  of  assembly,  movement  and  expression.   •   Criminalizing  of  the  political  opposition  and  ignoring  court  rulings  and  the  constitution  to   further  party  political  agendas.   •   The  state  of  the  voters’  roll:  there  has  been  opacity  around  the  roll  for  more  than  a  decade   now,  and  much  commentary  on  the  need  for  it  to  be  updated  and  regularized.  Reports  of   probably  tens  of  thousands  of  dead  voters  –  even  hundreds  of  thousands  -­‐  being  on  the  roll   from  one  election  to  another,  in  spite  of  having  been  reported  as  dead  to  the  Registrar  General   has  been  a  major  concern,  as  it  was  a  possible  opening  in  the  voting  system  for  fraud.  The   opposition  MDC  parties  have  systematically  been  denied  print-­‐outs  or  electronic  copies  of  the   voters  rolls  nationwide,  even  after  court  rulings  that  this  should  happen,  and  the  reluctance  of   the  state  to  allow  this  most  basic  of  transparencies  has  fueled  complaints  around  abuse  of  the   roll.       During  the  Global  Political  Agreement  (GPA)  or  unity  government  of  2009-­‐2013,  the  need  to  even   the  electoral  playing  field  was  a  primary  objective  of  the  opposition.  ZANU  PF  has  also  become   increasingly  aware  that  if  it  is  to  achieve  positive  judgement  of  any  forthcoming  election,  and   therefore  international  legitimacy,  particularly  in  the  wake  of  the  recent  military-­‐driven  change  of   power,  there  would  be  a  need  to  deal  with  at  least  some  of  the  accusations  of  electoral   shortcomings  listed  above.  The  European  Union  (EU)  after  2013  produced  a  roadmap  of  outcomes                                                                                                               41  Solidarity  Peace  Trust,  Zimbabwe  Electoral  Support  Network,  Zimbabwe  Lawyers  for  Human  Rights,   Zimbabwe  Peace  Project  and  many  others,  including  international  NGOs  such  as  Human  Rights  Watch  and   Amnesty  International  have  all  documented  the  abuses  listed  below,  in  particular  since  2000.     42  David  Coltart  noted  this  in  his  constituency  during  the  2013  elections.       14