By Nomusa Garikai- “The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has said it would withdraw its proposal to suspend electoral activities during the COVID-19 lockdown because the pandemic was likely to be long-term,” reported Newsday.
“Zec said the policy document, which was meant to provide guidance on procedures and conduct of electoral activities and processes in a COVID-19 environment, was borne out of the realisation that the pandemic would be with us for some time and was now the ‘new normal’.”
Elections in which there is no something as basic as verified voters’ roll is an insult to every Zimbabwean with any common sense! We know why Zanu PF does not want free, fair and credible elections – it cannot risk losing the elections and with it the absolute power and the right to loot.
We know why MDC and the rest of the corrupt and incompetent opposition will participate in these flawed and illegal elections; they are after the few seats Zanu PF gives away as bait. MDC leaders have given up all hope of getting any meaningful reforms implemented ever since the 2008 GNU when they sold out and wasted the opportunity to implement reforms.
Since neither Zanu PF nor MDC gives a damn that the people are being denying their democratic right to a free, fair and credible election. The results of these flawed and illegal elections are farce and devoid of democratic validity.
So as far as the thinking Zimbabwean out there is concerned until the reforms are implemented to guarantee free, fair and credible elections; Zimbabwe should not be holding elections. Zanu PF and its surrogate opposition parties, all 130 of them at the last count, can do whatever they wish and spare the nation the antic of yet another election charade especially now when the threat of spreading corona virus at these rallies is a real and immediate danger.
“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,” stated the EU Zimbabwe 2018 Election Observer Mission final report.
“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
After 40 years of rigged elections we want the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement finally implemented. Without implementing the reforms the planned by-elections and the 2023 elections will be a waste of time!
“According to the draft policy, voters will bring their pens to mark the ballot papers, inspect the voters roll online and a person whose temperature is lower or higher than the recommended national standard ranges would not be allowed into polling stations,” reported Newsday.
The July 2018 elections failed to produce a legitimate government because the whole electoral process was flawed and illegal. This Zanu PF regime is illegitimate whether or not the regime holds by-elections is academic, the regime will still be illegitimate.