4 1. Introduction This monograph focuses on the electoral irregularities, including gross human rights abuses, during the bye-elections in the period following the June 2000 Parliamentary elections. The General Election marked the first time a strong opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had challenged the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu (PF)) in the political arena. In the General Election the MDC won 57 out of 120 contested seats but the price paid for these democratic gains was high. This was perhaps the most violent election in Zimbabwe’s history, with killings, wide scale torture, threats and intimidation and property damage around the country. The organised violence and torture continued through the various bye-elections held in 2000, 2001, and persisted into the Presidential Election in 2002. Following the General Election, the MDC brought legal challenges to the High Court of Zimbabwe in 38 constituencies in an effort to contest the election results in those areas. They alleged that the violence perpetrated by Zanu (PF) agents, with the knowledge or active participation of the Zanu (PF) candidate at the time, unfairly affected the outcome of the vote in these constituencies, and thereby violated the Electoral Act of Zimbabwe. The MDC asked in their petitions that the results be overturned, and that elections be held again in these 38 constituencies. The MDC additionally requested that, if any member of parliament was found guilty of election misconduct, that member be rendered ineligible to run for public office for five years. The trial of 39 cases (Zanu (PF) submitted one case as the petitioner) began in February 2001, and, by December 2001, 15 petitions had been heard by a High Court Judge, and eight cases cancelled or withdrawn. First hand testimony was documented from all the election petition cases that were heard in the High Court of Zimbabwe from February to October 2001. This present monograph concentrates upon the human rights violations that took place during the bye-elections that took place in 2000 and 2001. None of these bye-elections came about as a result of the election petitions, as all those cases decided were immediately appealed and are still pending in the Supreme Court. All the bye-elections took place due to the death of the incumbent. Zanu(PF) won all these elections, amidst continued allegations of gross human rights violations and electoral irregularities. This monograph, and the others in this series, are based on detailed observation of the election petitions held in the High Court of Zimbabwe, as well as testimonies available from victims seen during the General Election and the subsequent bye-elections. A team of researchers attended all the court hearings, making notes of all proceedings, as well as studying the case notes held by the AMANI Trust and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. There is a companion monograph on the organised violence and torture that took place during the General Election 1. As will be seen, the present report corroborates many of the earlier reports of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum2, as well as the reports of international human rights organisations 3. A bibliography of the reports available is given in Appendix 1. 1 See AMANI TRUST (2002), Organised Violence and Torture in the June 2000 General Election in Zimbabwe, HARARE: AMANI TRUST. 2 See ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM (2000), Who is Responsible? A Preliminary Analysis of Pre-election Violence in Zimbabwe, HARARE: ZIMABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM; ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM (2000), Report on Pre-election Violence in Mberengwa, HARARE: ZIMABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM. 3 See AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (2000),Zimbabwe: Terror tactics in the run-up to the parliamentary elections, June 2000, LONDON: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. See also IRCT (2000), Organised Violence and Torture in Zimbabwe, Harare and Copenhagen, 6th June 2000, COPENHAGEN: IRCT. AMANI TRUST: Organised Violence and Torture in the Bye-Elections held in Zimbabwe during 2000 and 2001.