Zim parties disagree on Electoral Amendment Bill

PARTIES in the inclusive Government are not agreed on how the next election will be conducted, differences that have stalled the Electoral Amendment Bill.

The differences on the Bill are on the set-up of polling stations, with Zanu-PF calling for a voters' roll based on a particular polling station.

On the other hand, the MDC-T wants the ward-based voters' roll to be retained.

There are now genuine fears that the next election to disband the inclusive Government will be held without the amended Electoral Act.

Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa yesterday said differences on the Bill had emerged, despite the fact that the Bill had been negotiated.

"There is now a tug-of-war on an issue that we had already agreed as parties," Minister Chinamasa said.

"We had agreed that we will have polling station specific voters' roll, but our friends in the MDC-T are now singing a different tune."

Minister Chinamasa said the three parties in the inclusive Government had endorsed the proposed Bill during the negotiations and in Cabinet.

He said the rationale behind polling station specific voters' roll was to get rid of double voting and ghost voters.

"The MDC-T says they want the ward-based voters' roll, but we are saying the polling station specific voters' roll will help us to discover deceased voters so that we can fish them out.

"It also helps to eliminate double voting because in a ward we can have five polling stations, where one can vote at one station and go to another."

MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said the polling station-based voters' roll could be used by some to instill fear in voters.

"The MDC-T wants an election that produces a true reflection of the will of the people of Zimbabwe, so the election system must guarantee the secrecy of the vote, the security of the vote and that of the voter," Mr Mwonzora said.

"The problem with a polling station based voter's roll is that it becomes easy for those who want to mete violence against voters or voting communities to do so with ease."

Mr Mwonzora said his party wanted to see the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission being in charge of the voters' roll, adding that the Registrar General's Office was not supposed to play any role in the electoral process.

Minister Chinamasa said the political parties were in agreement on the Human Rights Commission Bill.

The Bill, which is at the committee stage in the House of Assembly, is likely to be passed when Parliament resumes sitting next week.

"I have received assurance from the other parties that the Bill will go through as agreed in the negotiations and in Cabinet," said Minister Chinamasa.

"However, the taste of the pudding is in the mouth, so we will wait and see but I am very hopeful that the two Bills will sail through."

Minister Chinamasa said if the bickering continued, the country could hold the next elections without the two Bills.

He said the Bills were not a condition to the holding of the next elections.

Minister Chinamasa said little changes had been made to the Bills.

Initially, the MDC-T wanted the Human Rights Commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses from 1980, while Zanu-PF argued that if any investigations were to be carried they were supposed to start from the inception of the inclusive Government.