The elections were held on 29 March 2008 up to 7pm when polling closed. The counting of all votes was done at the polling stations. The results were then pinned outside each polling station while they were also relayed to Harare to the ZEC National Collation Centre for the results to be verified and finally collated before being announced. The results of the presidential elections should have been announced within 48 hours of the closure of the polls. It has now been 14 days since Zimbabweans voted for a new president. The results have not yet been announced. There is no coherent explanation that is being offered by the ZEC for this unacceptable failure.
The Movement for Democratic Change has expressed public dismay at the delay and approached the courts to force the ZEC to release the results. It further alleges that its members and supporters especially in rural areas are facing severe retribution and this is confirmed by independent reports from human rights defenders. The courts have not been of assistance. For some time now the judiciary in Zimbabwe has failed to inspire public confidence that it can be the protector and guarantor of fundamental rights.
ZANU PF has launched a propaganda campaign claiming that their candidate Robert Mugabe was the victim of an electoral fraud. The police have been used to arbitrarily arrest and detain the civilian members of the ZEC. These civil and part time members of ZEC have been charged with electoral fraud prejudicing Robert Mugabe. They face possible sentences upon conviction of up to 35 years’ imprisonment, yet some have been denied access to their lawyers, whilst others are being barred from seeing the evidence to be used against them which would enable them to form a proper defence. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) have advised that no less than 8 such non military personnel of ZEC have been arrested and detained in the last 3 days. The prosecutors dealing with these cases have allegedly advised the ZLHR lawyers that they are acting under severe political pressure from “above”. The inescapable perception is that ZEC is being quickly converted into a quasi-military institution and its credibility, along with that of the electoral process, is almost irretrievably lost.
Reports from credible human rights organizations in Zimbabwe are that senior military personnel have been deployed to lead paramilitary militias of war veterans and the youth brigade to intimidate the population mainly in rural areas in view of the call that ZANU PF is making for a Presidential election run-off. Violence has already flared up in various parts of the country from the pro-ZANU PF militias. On the other hand Zimbabweans have remained remarkably calm under these very difficult circumstances.
The country has a newly elected parliament in which for the first time in 28 years ZANU PF has lost its majority. In the current political stalemate, the country has a president whose presence in office is both politically and legally challenged. The president has a constitutional duty to convene parliament according to Zimbabwe law. Parliament cannot convene itself, yet the current president Robert Mugabe is unlikely to convene a potentially hostile parliament. He may be compelled to use disputed presidential powers to extend his term in office or to pass laws to contain public anger as the constitution allows a president to do so in the absence of parliament sitting. Should he do so, he will sink the country into potential anarchy. There is a dangerous political and legal vacuum in the country.
The experiences of post electoral violence and gross human rights violations triggered by contested electoral processes, such as recently in Kenya, are still too fresh for the African political leadership to maintain a policy of indifference. There is a huge burden on the shoulders of African political leadership to defend democracy and the peoples will on the African continent.
In the circumstances, FIDH and Zimrights request the African Union, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the United Nations to take immediate steps to:
– Cause ZEC to immediately announce the true results of the Presidential election.
– Prevent Robert Mugabe and his military and security personnel from tampering with the election results and stop the continued arbitrary arrests and detentions of the non-military personnel of the ZEC.
– In the event that the results show no winner of 50% plus one vote, then SADC should set up a Heads of State team that will mediate between ZANU PF and MDC in order to:
- Set an election run off time line.
- Establish a credible, independent and impartial election management body to replace ZEC whose credibility and reputation has been damaged beyond repair that will implement the election run-off without fear or favour and constituted by people acceptable to both ZANU PF and the MDC.
- Ensure that the election run-off is internationally supported, supervised and observed and run under circumstances where Zimbabweans are able to fully and effectively participate in their national affairs in an environment of peace and tranquility, free from intimidation and political violence and retribution.
- Set modalities for the duly elected and constituted parliament to be immediately convened and be allowed to carry out their constitutional duties without executive interference.
- Ensure that measures are in place to ensure that until the run-off is held, Robert Mugabe is not allowed to rule by decree supported by the military.