Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

The report is a reflection of the monitoring and observation of the 2018 electoral process by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum).

ZESN strongly believes that the pathway to the next election should be defined by a comprehensive electoral and political reforms process established and implemented by all key stakeholders.

The data collected reported six hundred and eighty eight human rights violations, which have been incorporated into the Shutdown Atrocities Report of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (of which ZPP is member).

This briefing paper reviews the political and historical context of the Zimbabwean election with a view of determining the contribution of this past to the electoral outcomes. We hypothesize that the 2018 electoral outcome will be a function of its immediate past and the broader national historical context.

The ZESN conducted an audit of the 2018 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) voters' rolls. The audit was conducted to provide independent non-partisan information on the quality of the 2018 PVR and the 2018 FVR to all stakeholders.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) monitored and assessed the 2018 harmonized elections held on the 30th of July 2018. The primary objective was to ensure that the elections were conducted freely and fairly in accordance with national legal frameworks, and regional and international instruments that advance the observance and respect for human rights and freedoms of all citizens.

Complaints of alleged forceful collection of serial numbers from community members in Marondera Rural (Rapids Farm), in Bocha Marange and Mutasa Districts of Manicaland Province were lodged with the ZHRC.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) organized the Zimbabwe International Election Observation Mission (ZIEOM) for the 2018 Zimbabwe presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections (referred to locally as “harmonized” elections).

This report presents ZESN’s observations of each sector of the electoral cycle: the pre-election, the polling, and the post-election periods.

The ESN-SA deployed a 23 member Mission from Zimbabwe and the region (Southern and East Africa). The Mission observed the last stages of the pre-election period, Election Day, and immediate post-election. The ESN-SA, met civil society, political parties, the Electoral Commission, other observer missions, the Police and other stakeholders for briefings on the pre-election environment.

CATHOLIC COMMISSION FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE IN ZIMBABWE ELECTION OBSERVATION REPORT FOR 2018 ZIMBABWE HARMONIZED ELECTIONS

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) continues to observe the pre-election environment and key electoral processes in Mutoko North constituency ahead of the byelection set for Saturday 24 November 2018. This Long Term Observers’ (LTOs) report covers the period from 28 October to 10 November 2018.

The Petitioners beseech the Parliament of Zimbabwe to consider and pass the relevant legislation that give life to tenets of the 2013 Constitution.

Veritas notes that when giving evidence before the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence of 1st August, our Attorney-General, Prince Machaya, was absolutely clear on the correct legal position of who can deploy the army onto the streets.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has released a series of reports about politically partisan distribution of food and other State aid before and after polling in the 30th July election.

Detailed information about the Commission of Inquiry was given in our Commissions Watch bulletin dated 25th September 2018 [link]. Its terms of reference are set out in full in the Presidential proclamation appointing the Commission

The report has information about election campaigns by various parties as well as the election results. It also consists of the incidents of the day after the elections.

On Election Day, ZESN issued a pre-election assessment statement, mid-day statement, and a report on projections of presidential election results based on its Sample Based Observation methodology. ZESN LTOs have been observing the post-election environment processes in their respective constituencies and this report is based on post election observations.

On the 14th September the President published a proclamation (No 6 of 2018) establishing the Commission [The proclamation can be viewed on the Veritas website – link] and the seven Commissioners were sworn in on the 19th September.

This report details the Zimbabwe Election Support Network’s (ZESN) observations of the Mutoko North Constituency National Assembly and the Chegutu East ward 16 by-elections.

The ten files in total contained ZEC Presidential Results by Polling Station. These files contain presidential results information for 10,984 polling stations. The files are not without errors. Analysis of the results for the parliamentary elections and the presidential elections does not show significant discrepancies.

This is an update to the report published by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) on the 15th of August 2018. It captures the reports documented by members of the Forum from 1 to 31 August 2018. A total of 274 violations have been documented in this period.

E.D Mnangagwa Urges the court to dismiss Chamisa's application as there was no valid challenge to his election.

The Affidavit stated that, No valid application has been filed by the applicant challenging the election of the 1st respondent to the office of the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, in terms of s93 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe as read with the Constitutional Court Rules, 2016.

This Application challenged the results of the presidential election announced irregularly by the 23rd and 24th respondents on the 3rd day of August 2018. It also challenged the declaration by the 23rd respondent that 1st respondent ids the duly elected presidential candidate for the presidential for the presidential election that took place on the 30th day of July 2018.

The Commission issued its preliminary election monitoring report on the 2nd of August 2018 covering the period up to 31 July 2018. This statement is therefore a summary of findings on the election related human rights situation by the ZHRC in the period from 1 August to 6 August 2018.

The Commission deployed a total of 23 teams spread across the 10 Provinces of Zimbabwe. The monitors were able to collect information which forms part of this preliminary report.

Malaba CJ's decision stated that,This is the unanimous judgment of the Court. It must be noted that it, however, does not contain the full reasons thereof. These will be issued in due course.

This is the first report by the consortium which covers the period 1 to 9 August 2018. A total of 199 violations were documented from 1 to 9 August 2018.

SADC electoral Observation Mission to the Republic of Zimbabwe Preliminary statement by his Excellency Manuel Domingos Augusto.

The report Focuses on the 30 July 2018 Harmonized elections whereby the EU says the elections were competitive, the campaign was largely peaceful and, overall, political freedoms during the campaign, including freedom of movement, assembly and speech, were respected. However, the misuse of state resources, instances of coercion and intimidation, partisan behavior by traditional leaders and overt bias in state media, all in favor of the ruling party, meant that a truly level playing field was not achieved, which negatively impacted on the democratic character of the electoral environment.

Zimbabwe held itsnationalelections on the 30th of July 2018. The electoral process was generally peaceful until the 1st of August 2018, when many demonstrators took to the streets of Harare demanding the immediate release of the election results. These events, particularly those that occurred within Harare’s Central Business District (CBD), resulted in the death of six (6) people, injury of thirty-five (35), and massive damage to properties.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC/Commission) joins the nation and other peace loving Zimbabweans in condemning, in the strongest sense, the use of live ammunition and excessive force on unarmed protesting citizens by the army on 1 August 2018.

This report contains the findings of the EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) on the Harmonised Elections 2018. The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability.

This report presents ZESN's observations of each sector of the electoral cycle: the pre-election, the polling, and the post-election periods. The observations were gathered through the deployment of 7240 trained observers.

This report is based on the information received from the monitors deployed across the country and from complaints received.

ZCBC Pastoral Letter on July Elections , Shona Version

Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections were the first to be observed by the Commonwealth in 16 years. The Commonwealth last observed Zimbabwe’s 2002 Presidential Election. As such, this observation mission provided a unique opportunity to accompany Zimbabwe on a critical leg of its democratic journey.

STATEMENT BY THE HONOURABLE TETE ANTONIO, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA AND HEAD OF THE SADC ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION (SEOM) TO THE 2018 HARMONISED ELECTIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE.

Brief by the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to Local and Foreign observers for the 2018 Harmonised Elections at Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) 13 July 2018.

Government needs to immediately align all electoral laws with the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

This dispatch reports results from a survey of public opinion on the status of the electoral race conducted one month before the day of voting with a representative sample of 2,400 voting-age adults drawn from all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe. The survey was commissioned by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Afro-barometer's core partner in Southern Africa, and implemented by the Mass Public Opinion Institute, Afro-barometer's national partner in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC/Commission), in line with its monitoring mandate as provided for in Section 243(1)(c) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, deployed monitors throughout the country’s 10 Provinces. The monitoring activities which have been undertaken by the ZHRC project a holistic picture of the electoral environment

Pastoral Letter of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference on the National Elections of 30 July 2018.

Regulations made by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission updated to incorporate all amendments until 8 June 2018.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) monitored the human rights situation prior to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) primary elections that had been initially scheduled for 17 May 2018.

On 28 May 2018, another Electoral Amendment Act was passed and the 2018 Election date was announced thereafter. Consequently, as a result of the announcement of the Election day as 30 July 2018, any amendments to the Electoral Act that happen after the proclamation do not apply to the 2018 elections, but other future elections.

ZESN has been closely tracking developments related to the ongoing inspection of the Provisional Voters’ Roll (PVR) exercise which commenced on 19 May 2018 and scheduled to end on 29 May 2018.

The findings in this report are primarily informed by the Long Term Observers (LTOs) that ZESN deployed to the National Assembly Constituencies throughout the country. ZESN deployed 210 LTOs to track political developments in all the National Assembly Constituencies in Zimbabwe. During the Inspection of the provisional voters’ roll, ZESN deployed LTOs who visited 693 Inspection Centres (ICs) across the country during the inspection and making 909 visits in total during the process.

This report is based on observations made by the LTOs between 18 May and 07 July 2018 in their respective constituencies from across the country’s 10 provinces. However ZESN produced several thematic reports during the same reporting period, including a report inspection of the voters’ roll, the nomination court, and primary elections for political parties.

This report focuses on how Zimbabwe has an unenviable reputation for being the most politically violent country in Southern Africa, certainly since the civil wars ended in Angola and Mozambique, and the independence of Namibia and South Africa.

This is an application for a declaratory order in the terms set out in the draft order, particularly that in terms of section 156 (a) and section 239 (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and section 3 of the Electoral Act the First Respondent has an obligation to conduct an election transparently and in terms of section 3 (2) (g) and section 233 (d) of the Constitution which require the First Respondent to promote transparency in all its operations.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) monitored the human rights situation during the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) primary elections conducted on 29 April 2018. The aim of these elections were to select candidates to represent the party in national elections in the categories of Council, National Assembly, Senate and Provincial Council.

These revised Commonwealth Guidelines for the Conduct of Election Observation adopt best practice, as also reflected in the Declaration of Principles on International Election Observation, and will ensure the on-going integrity, value and impact of Commonwealth observer missions as they continue to support the strengthening of electoral democracy and the political rights of Commonwealth citizens.

The paper has guidelines on what constitutes free and fair elections.