Zimbabwe's elections will be neither free nor fair

The forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe will be neither free nor fair, according to Good Governance Africa (GGA). GGA raises three concerns:

1. Conditions for free and fair elections are flawed and deplorable

All of Zimbabwe's main political parties committed to a number of reforms intended to pave the way to fair elections in 2008. But these reforms have not been implemented. Sokwanele, a Zimbabwe-based online pro‐democracy group, has recorded many breaches of the Global Political Agreement: 20,857 by Zanu-PF, 1,009 by MDC-T and 616 by MDC-N.

Political violence remains rife. State security forces persecute opposition supporters and harass critical voices in civil society. Zanu-PF has resisted attempts to reform the police, army and Central Intelligence Organisation. The economy is compromised to the point that the treasury could not fund this election - Robert Mugabe and his circle are suspected of having diverted revenues from the Marange diamond fields that could have paid for these elections many times over.

2. The voters' roll appears rigged to favour Zanu-PF

The Harare-based Research and Advocacy Unit recently audited the revised voters' roll. Among many other flaws, it found 63 constituencies with more voters than residents. The population over the age of 30, which is more likely to favour  Zanu-PF, is over‐registered by 129%, with 185,000 more registered voters than citizens in the 80+ age band. Conversely, the population under 30, which might be more inclined to vote for opposition parties, is under-registered by almost 2m people.

3. Credible and independent international observers have been denied access

The Zanu-PF aligned electoral commission has denied observer status to all major election observing bodies except the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) delegations, whose objectivity is questionable. The AU's commissioner for political affairs on Zimbabwe, Aisha Abdullahi, has recently declared that the body's election observers are confident of a free and fair election. His statements suggest that the AU has compromised its objectivity before the polls are held. SADC has repeatedly failed to hold Zanu-PF to account for the party's flagrant violations of the GPA and has lost its credibility.

Zimbabweans have been denied the change that they have demanded before, and it would be indefensible to allow democracy to be circumvented again.

Statement issued by Good Governance Africa, July 29 2013

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