Electoral Law Must Prohibit State Officials’ Public Statements
Threatening Free and Fair Elections
By Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)
Elections in Zimbabwe have always been marred by acts of violence and
intimidation. As far back as 1980, when Zimbabwe held its first democratic
elections, there were complaints of violence and intimidation. At the time, the
euphoria brought by independence overshadowed the violence that had taken
place. Although the elections were passed as free and fair, the benefit of
hindsight shows that it set a bad precedent which would be repeated in future
elections. Violence and intimidation have almost become part of the country’s
political culture. Elections have become synonymous with violence. This is not
right.
As the world witnessed in the run-up to the Presidential Run-Off election between
March and June 2008, violence claimed many limbs, lives and property – causing
untold suffering amongst ordinary people. In the end, violence and intimidation
meant the process and result of that election became severely compromised. The
legitimacy of the result was contested and could not be sustained – and without
any viable option, the political parties ended up negotiating a power-sharing deal
under which the country is currently governed. There can be no doubt, however,
that if any future election is to have legitimacy and universal acceptance, the
cancerous strain of violence and intimidation must be removed.
It is important to critically assess how the proposed reforms to the electoral laws
attempt to deal with this problem and to determine their strengths and
weaknesses.
Code of Conduct
The measures against politically-motivated violence include a code of conduct set
out in a schedule of the Electoral Act, with which all political parties and
candidates in an election are expected to abide. The proposals place responsibility
on political parties and candidates contesting an election to take steps to prevent
politically-motivated violence and intimidation.
ZESN recommends however, the necessity of setting out clearly the legal
consequences of any failure to comply with the code of conduct. There must be
specific sanctions which detail the effect of any breaches of that code of conduct
on the legality of the election. A critical question would be whether a breach of
the code of conduct affects the legality of the election. At what point does
politically-motivated violence and intimidation affect the legality of the election?
A code of conduct without specific legal sanctions that go to the core of the
election’s legality can be easily flouted.
Special Structures Dealing with Political Violence
The proposals also include a fairly elaborate architecture of policing, investigating
and prosecuting offenders accused of committing acts of violence and
intimidation.
This includes the appointment of a special police liaison officer and special
investigations committee for each province which together will be specifically
responsible for the expeditious investigation of cases of politically-motivated
violence or intimidation within each province. The appointment of the SPLO will
be done by the Police Commissioner General “in consultation with” the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), the constitutional body which
oversees the protection of human rights. If the spirit of this clause is upheld, it
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