adminOn Monday Zec announced that it would come up with special provincial courts to expedite the hearing of cases of electoral violence in a bid to curb the scourge, which rears its ugliness each time there is a political contest.
The police in every province will be required to set up special units to quickly investigate cases of political violence and voter intimidation. Anyone who participates in violence faces, in addition to the sentence imposed by the special court, a five-year ban by the High Court from voting or standing for any election.
These measures should help curtail violence in addition to the calls by political leaders to urge their supporters to shun violence, exercise restraint and peacefully co-exist with their opponents.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces President Mugabe has been at the forefront of calling for peace during campaigns for the elections.
On Monday he reiterated his call when he said there was no need for Zimbabweans to spill each other’s blood over political differences. President Mugabe said this while officially opening the second all-stakeholders’ conference on the constitution at the Harare International Conference Centre.
The announcement by ZEC of the special courts came barely a week after the commission, charged with organising and running all elections in the country, came up with measures to prevent confusion on candidates to represent political parties in the forthcoming elections.
To avoid confusion, a candidate purporting to represent a certain political party must have a form signed by an authorised office bearer in the political party to prove that he/she is indeed that party’s candidate. This requirement will also now form part of the nomination process.
The new requirement for candidates will help prevent two candidates from the same party submitting their papers at the nomination courts. In previous elections the practice of double nominations from the same party has cost some parties dearly as this ends up splitting votes and benefiting undeserving opponents to victory.
We encourage the ZEC to use the time between now and March next year when the harmonised elections are expected to be held to fine-tune our electoral system to ensure the polls will be credible, free and fair and the results indisputable.
In a presentation at a two-day workshop to train voter educators’ trainers in Bulawayo, ZEC commissioner Professor Geoff Feltoe said electoral laws should provide a framework for the holding of free and fair elections.
He said the special court had been set up because elections could not be said to be free and fair if anyone has been influenced or coerced to vote for a certain candidate, or prevented from casting his or her ballot.
It is also commendable that the new mechanism for dealing with political violence will operate in conjunction with other structures that have been established to deal with this problem such as the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, the National Organ on Healing and Reconciliation and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission as well as the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
Online Reporter