BALLOT News W X Issue No. 2 September 2007 EDITORIAL elcome to the Ballot News 2nd issue of 2007! In this issue we focus on various articles as Zimbabwe prepares for the next years' elections. This issue therefore seeks to continue with the debate and discussions on some of the interpretations, implications, and prospects towards the 2008 elections in particular on the Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 18. The issue looks at various aspects like the voter registration, which make up the fundamental aspects of a free and fair election. For the registration to be fair, comprehensive and inclusive, potential voters must be aware of the registration process and have reasonable opportunity to complete it. In addition, voter registration should be premised on the principles of inclusiveness, fairness, comprehensiveness, and flexibility to extend dates of registration in order that the process caters for all would-be voters. The issue also looks at issues around the Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 18, with its proposed 'harmonisation' of the election of parliament and president, the proposal to increase the number of House of Assembly and Senate seats, and most disturbingly the clause that seeks to allow a joint seating of the Parliament to elect a head of state in between general elections. While the practice of parliament seating to elect a president will not be unique to the Zimbabwean situation since other democracies like South Africa elect their president the same way, in Zimbabwe, it is the provisions in the executive presidency to appoint non-constituency members of parliament and senate that makes the system unfair to the opposition. The incumbent before the first results of the elections are announced, the incumbent already has 10 seats in the house of Assembly and 34 in the Senate. In the event that there is a joint seating of parliament to elect a president, out of the 294 tasked with electing the president, 44 or 15 percent are presidential appointees. This makes the whole system unfair given the current constitution and its provision for executive powers. In an extract from the latest Zimbabwe Election Watch there are highlights of further examples of breaches of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections by Zimbabwe. The South African-led SADC initiative to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis is also reported to be in danger of collapse if Zanu PF insists on pressing ahead with plans to amend the constitution through Parliament, obviously undermining the calls for a new constitution by the opposition in the talks. Zimbabweans' X 4 hopes lies on the SADC initiative, and on President Thabo Mbeki's reiterations that , Considering that only eight months are left before the elections next year, South Africa needs to speed up the process so that there is ample time to put in place the necessary reforms prior to the election. Of major worry is that some of the processes, which are pertinent in an election like the voter registration, are taking place under a backdrop of grumbling from the opposition and civic bodies. There are allegations that Zanu PF continues impregnating the voters' roll with phantom voters. In our report on the exercise, we called for the extension of the mobile registration period that was open from 17 June 2007 to 17 August 2007. We even suggested that the process should have been a door-to-door exercise taking into cognisance the economic hardships that are prevalent in the country. The process which was not well publicised by the responsible authority, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is said to have registered, ludicrously, only 80 000 voters. Democracy is a process and a way of life and operation on an ongoing basis rather than every four to five years. Elections are simply one institutional mechanism for the achievement and maintenance of democracy. The texture of democracy relates to many of the rights that the Zimbabwe government has curtailed over the last few years. Zimbabwe is suffering from a democratic deficit and observers must take this into account when observing, monitoring and declaring the conduct of elections. It is crucial that observers to Zimbabwe next year, in particular, the SADC, starts monitoring events in Zimbabwe and be deployed at least 90 days before the election as recommended by the SADC Principles Governing Democratic Elections. It is also important that SADC ensures that when these elections take place the results should not be contested. I hope that this issue will again meet its main objective of providing a constructive platform for the exchange of viewpoints and to develop ideas about the prospects for Zimbabwe ahead of 2008 elections Rindai Chipfunde - Vava Editorial Director