Government commits to leveling election ground

Electoral reforms have been one trump card which the opposition has been running with seeking to justify and ultimately nullify the end result come July elections.

But in the spirit of fairness, the ruling party seems to be at the forefront of amending and addressing some of these concerns by placing measures to level the playing field.

As of yesterday, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs,  Ziyambi Ziyambi advised that the electoral law was going to be complete by end of April, a development which will certainly iron out some of the major concerns which other opposition parties have been tetchy over.

Realizing that parliament was suppose to be on recess, and resume seating in May is an  indication that Government intends to see through credible elections by leveling the playing field.

In as much as critiques would argue that the ruling party has a relatively fair advantage over the other contenders in the race, the ruling party is up in arms with any responsible authorities to put their houses in order.

Initially there were reports on political parties which had been moving around demanding and collecting voters' registration slips, which has since stopped following Government's pronouncement that it was illegal warranting prosecution, thus managing to end voter intimidation.

Apart from that, voter education was also bankrolled to educate and enlighten the electorate on BVR, voting, their rights and that the registration slip/numbers bears no significance to the ultimate voting.

This week, the Chiefs' Council also appealed to civic society organizations to report traditional leaders who coerce their subjects to vote for any political party since there have been reports by the Election Resource Center (ERC) on voter coercion during Mugabe's administration.

Meanwhile, police have also set up an election command unit responsible for tackling election related violence, in an effort to deter voter coercion or intimidation pre or post elections. And these command units are set to be decentralized to all election centers, all in an effort to avoid intimidation, leveling the ground.

In terms of media coverage, the State broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) which has previously received a fair share of criticism over failure to cover opposition political parties have since started enjoying press coverage. Recently the MDC-T president, Nelson Chamisa's Murehwa rally was beamed on television, much to the opposition's amusement.

At the same time, the Public Order and Security Act, (POSA) and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) have also been criticized for being draconian laws favoring the ruling have since been reviewed. POSA was recently aligned except section 27 which is awaiting the constitutional court decision, while the ministry of information is currently working on AIPPA.

In as much as the Government has its many ills, upholding the law, and amending the electoral laws to create a level playing field is not one of them and ought to be applauded for reforms made so far.
A State man thinks of the future generation, while a politician thinks of the next election; change/amendments do not happen overnight. The Government is simply taking its time for come up with comprehensive legislation for the future generation. Why rush to appease next election contenders?