As Zimbabwe prepares for the 2015 national budget, which is set to be presented in Parliament on Thursday 27 November 2014, the Election Resource Centre (ERC) urges government not only to prioritize the involvement of citizens in the budget making processes, but also to seriously consider sustained support to electoral processes by availing adequate resources for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to execute its constitutional mandate.
While the national budget has reached the stage for its presentation in Parliament, the ERC notes with deep concern the limited public consultations preceding the event. Such an unfortunate situation happened in contrast to the dictates of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which insist on the need for adequate involvement of citizens in such critical processes (Section 141, b). The obtaining reality indeed militates against effective public contributions to government`s policy making processes.
The ERC further intimates that the national budget under debate must recognize the enlarged mandate placed on independent bodies supporting democracy like ZEC through provision of adequate resources to enable them to execute their mandate as required by the Constitution. Zimbabwe cannot repeat the 2013 election fiasco of going into the next election with an ill-prepared election management body as admitted by the election commission itself in its report on the July 2013 polls. The ZEC Report noted extensive budget constraints which significantly contributed to the disenfranchisement of a lot of prospective voters ahead of last year’s elections.
The limited budgetary support contributed heavily to the discount of credibility of the July 2013 polls as ZEC faced huge challenges in registering prospective voters leading to failure by most first time voters to exercise their right to vote and the attendant disputed voters’ roll. Clearly, because ZEC had an excuse of inadequate resources, the electoral authority failed dismally to provide much needed voter education to potential voters ahead of the elections leading to an astronomical number of spoilt ballots as well as turned away voters at a number of polling sites. Additionally, government failure to fund electoral processes resulted in a botched special voting process which raised suspicion of possible manipulation of the vote.
In the realm of a new Constitution which places ZEC as the sole administrator of critical electoral process, including those which previously fell under other state bodies like the Registrar General, it becomes compelling for the electoral management body to be given enough resources in time to set up systems and structures which support the new electoral system and associated architecture as provided in the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Already the commission has adopted a new voter registration model which requires testing as well as extensive voter awareness as the nation embarks on an inevitable compilation of a fresh voters’ roll. This requires timeous disbursement of adequate resources for the process to kick-start in 2015 which is the realistic time for registering voters afresh, compiling a new voters’ roll before submitting the voter register for public scrutiny ahead of the 2018 general elections and to facilitate the holding of credible by-elections.
The ERC urges government to have a unrelenting long-term plan to support the operations of the electoral commission which conforms to the electoral cycle approach to election work, recognizing the continuous nature of electoral work. It is only after adequate electoral support from government that Zimbabwe can achieve credible electoral processes which apart from enabling participation of all citizens, are less amenable to manipulation by unscrupulous electoral actors.
The nation cannot afford another electoral debacle in 2018 which is spurred by inadequate resources. It is therefore important for the 2015 national budget to put electoral support at the fore of its priorities in order to facilitate attainment of credible electoral processes.
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