1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Civic society has always been involved in governance issues. Indeed, in 1995, owing
to pressure from civic society, the Government amended Electoral Regulations
[Electoral (Amendment) Regulations 1/95, Statutory Instrument 70/95] and included
civic society as election monitors. Thereafter in 2000, the Government promulgated
the Electoral (Amendment) Regulations 7/2000 Statutory Instrument 161A/2000,
which set out the qualifications for monitors and drew a distinction between “monitor”
and “observer”. The promulgation of the various instruments thus permitted civic
society to fully participate in governance issues. Statutory Instrument 41B/2002 puts
provisions for the Electoral Supervisory Commission to accredit observers from civic
society organisations through the Accreditation Committee.
2. ZESN’s WORK
The major contributions that ZESN has made to Zimbabwe, include:
2.1 Election Monitoring and Observation
ZESN has monitored and observed all elections since its inception. On each of the
occasions the government accredited us. (See attached invitation letter from Ministry
of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs). This includes the 2000 General
elections, 2002 presidential election, 14 parliamentary by-elections and numerous
local authority elections and by-elections. Election observation promotes confidence,
transparency, credibility and legitimacy in the election by the electorate and to an
extent national stability.
2.2 Civic and Voter Education
ZESN has also conducted civic and voter education countrywide thereby promoting
the concept of citizen empowerment, high voter turn out and the citizens’
participation in governance, socio-economic and political issues. Most recently,
many stakeholders used our voter education material as a reference.
2.3 Media and Communications
ZESN has provided voter information through the media and worked with media
practitioners focussing on capacity building in order to ensure professional and
ethical election reporting.
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