Prevailing peace needs to continue after polls

WE are now just three days from the elections.

While there is a lot of excitement in some quarters, most people just want a nice, peaceful day, where they will go to their polling station, get the three ballot papers and choose who they want for president, member of parliament and councillor, and then go home to wait for the results. Generally speaking, the political parties realise this and, while making sure we know they exist and who they are, have been careful not to apply too much pressure, and have been behaving politely and properly.

We are maturing as a democracy.

In any case, just about every voter has by now made up their mind where they will be putting their Xs. There have been a handful of cases where some over-excited supporters have gone a bit further and become, as the charge sheets say, a public nuisance. But these cases have been very isolated and must be an embarrassment to party leaders and officials.

The police have reacted swiftly in every case and with absolute minimum force.

Generally, they have tried very hard to talk the more excited down to earth.

Arrests are the final option.

Formal electioneering ends tomorrow night.

Parliament thought it was a good idea if the 24 hours before polling day were exceptionally quiet so that the actual polling day itself could be calm and business-like, and everybody just exercises their rights with zero bother and pressure. Parties and candidates need to keep reminding supporters that over-excitement, trouble-making and vandalism with a can of spray paint simply puts the average voter off.

People know their vote is secret and secure and know their own minds.

The prevailing peace needs to continue after the polls while votes are being counted.

There are more than six million voters, so this is not instant. And we all need to be calm as the results are announced. We will have had our say, as will our neighbours, and we need to respect the choice by the majority in our ward, constituency and nation. Democracy is everyone’s right. Obviously, there will be winners and losers. Considering the number of candidates, generally, there will be more losers than winners.

There might be some results that surprise some voters, but so what?

The reason we vote is to choose.

If results could be predicted in advance by pundits and newspapers, we would not bother.

So, we stress, everyone needs to respect the results — they are generated by our fellow citizens. If there was some sort of problem on polling day at some station, then we have the courts.

A large swathe of High Court judges is on standby to hear any election petition promptly, and the Constitutional Court judges are ready to meet very quickly to hear any challenge to the presidential poll. No one has to take any action but leave it to the courts.

The police are ready to protect us all, as they have been doing, and have made it clear that they have learned from experience and from any mistakes they may have made.

Again, their job is simply to keep the peace while the people vote, the results are compiled and announced, and then accepted.

There are a lot of observers and journalists watching what happens, but they all need to remember that they are there as watchers, not players. The job of choosing the winners belongs to the voters and no one else.

All the observers are there to make sure these voters are able to make that choice with zero pressure and that their choice is counted and respected. They can look as hard as they like, and we hope they do, but they cannot be the referee or player. The two most important teams of observers are the joint mission by the African Union and COMESA, and the team from SADC.

Those have an absolute right, by treaty, to be here, and these days, African institutions are not prepared to accept anything but the best.

Neither cares who wins, so long as the poll was free and fair and reflected the will of the majority.

There have been the odd disturbing report of an observer trying to be a player and influence the result, although none of these involve entire observer missions or heads of mission, and presumably the mission itself can take action.

To a large degree, observers are also in the public eye, and to earn respect, they need to do their job really well, watching closely so the process runs smoothly and fairly, and being ready to call attention if something untoward happens.

The fact that they are there and watching is normally a hindrance to potential trouble-makers, and that might well be their most important function. Elections should be transparent, as well as free and fair, so respected observers from inside and outside Zimbabwe are extremely useful to make sure that they are transparent, free and fair.