Chinamasa offside on electoral reforms

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) strongly condemns statements made by Patrick Chinamasa, the Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs on the need for electoral reforms before the 2018 elections.
 
It is on record that the 2013 were highly rigged by Zanu PF and the party – aware that the people of Zimbabwe have rejected them – wants a repeat of the same in the 2018 elections.
 
In his interview in The Sunday Mail, Chinamasa wants to hide the fact that the voters' roll, which was used in 2013, is not available and the opposition political parties have not had access and sight of it.
 
It is a fact that there are no confidence building measures in place in Zimbabwe's elections and as a result Zimbabwe's elections will always be credible, free and fair as long as electoral reforms are not implemented.
 
The environment in the 2013 election was intimidating and highly militarised as a high number of voters including teachers were assisted to vote by known Zanu PF supporters.
 
The broke Zanu PF government in which Chinamasa is the Finance Minister, has not made any efforts to ensure that the biometric voters' roll (BVR) to curb vote rigging ahead of the next elections is available.
 
The use of biometric technology is the starting to free and fair elections as it prevents voters from voting twice and unregistered voters from voting.

The current voter registration exercise in the country is defective and potential voters across the country are being turned away.
 
The controversial voters' slips, which were used by Zanu PF to rig the 2013 elections, are still being used in local council and parliamentary by-elections held across.
 
As PDP, we also note with concern the rise over the use of hate language with less than 20 months left before the 2018 elections.
 
Therefore, the PDP, like all other right thinking Zimbabweans, accepts that electoral reforms are an important precondition to attaining democracy in Zimbabwe.
 
There is need for a total overhaul to set in motion the possibility of a free and fair election in the areas of election management, electoral environment and electoral law.
 
The electoral body, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is not independent and remains one of the core reasons why Zimbabwe has never had free and fair elections.

It is manned by personalities and characters whose sole function is to reproduce and retain the status quo.

The registration of voters, under the new electoral law is a function of ZEC, but ZEC has erroneously delegated this duty to the corrupt and untrustworthy Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, who is notorious for being loyal to Zanu PF and having no regard to electoral law and or any other systems.

Furthermore, the voter registration exercise is non- existent and it is not known who is currently registering voters, where, when and how and yet voter registration is, by law, a continuous process.

No one not on the voters' roll should be permitted to vote and the atrocious voter registration slips that were used in the 2013 election should be banned.

Thus the PDP calls for the creation of a brand new and biometric voters' roll and the repealing and replacement of the Electoral Act.

The current Act is marred with errors, cross references to non-existent sections and contradictory provisions and importantly, there are sections at which the Act is at variant with the Constitution.

#AnotherZimbabweIsPossible
Settlement Chikwinya
PDP Secretary for Elections