Election body in shambles

HARARE: The parliamentary committee on Public accounts is “worried” that problems which affected the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in the 2005 general elections are most likely to recur in next month's presidential and parliamentary elections. Parliament’s committee on Public Accounts said in a confidential document obtained this week that the problems that the electoral commission faced before and during the 2005 parliamentary elections will surface again during this year’s elections.

The committee late last year received oral evidence from ZEC Commissioners and members of staff before compiling the report.

The public accounts committee also said that ZEC will not have a full staff compliment for the harmonized elections.

“Your committee was worried that the same problems that ZEC experienced with respect to the 2005 parliamentary and senatorial elections resulting from lack of sound financial control systems and accounting personnel answerable to ZEC, might reincarnate themselves in this year’s elections,” the committee said in the undated document.

ZEC was created by an Act of Parliament to be the sole body that organizes and manages all elections in the country.

Some of the problems ZEC faced in the 2005 elections which were unearthed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mildred Chiri, included financial irregularities and mismanagement and a critical shortage of staff where ZEC relied on seconded staff mostly from state security agencies and civil and servants.

Political analysts and opposition parties said the harmonized elections were set to be a nightmare and the worst managed election in the history of Zimbabwe.

The analysts said the confusion and inefficiency exhibited by ZEC at the nomination of candidates at nomination courts last week was just a tip of the iceberg for the worst to come.

The slow pace at which nominations were verified by ZEC officials with some courts having to sit until after midnight on Friday showed a lack of capacity on the part of the electoral commission.

Loop holes for rigging

Political scientist John Makumbe said election logistics were a nightmare and that the ruling Zanu PF would take advantage of the confusion to “push whatever figures they so desire” as results for the ruling party candidates. “The logistics are absolutely chaotic to an extent that names of some people are appearing on the voters role in three different wards. This election is going to be a logistics nightmare. This regime of course often takes advantage of the chaotic preparations to rig its way to victory. They push whatever figures they want under the current confusion,” said Makumbe. For example, ZEC had only one computer at the nomination court for presidential candidates in Harare on Friday which was being used to verify names and addresses of candidates and those who had nominated them.

“We foresee the worst election management in the country in the coming elections,” spokesperson of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Nelson Chamisa said.

“ZEC is ill-prepared, ill-equipped and untrained to manage harmonized elections. The inefficiency and directionless shown by staff at ZEC clearly indicates lack of capacity to deal with the harmonized election,” said Chamisa

He said the chaos justified calls by the MDC for the reconstitution of the electoral commission. The parliamentary committee said in its report that ZEC will not have a full staff compliment by the time of the election as the recruitment exercise for staff compliment of 800 officers was to be phased in a period of three years.

“Your committee was disturbed to hear that the recruitment only started in earnest in June. This, therefore, means that ZEC will not have a full staff compliment for the harmonized elections and will once again rely on seconded staff,” the committee observed.

ZEC has been operating without crucial departments such as internal audit and finance sub-committee at the level of commissioners. “The committee observed a laisser-faire approach by ZEC commissioner with respect to the supervision of ZEC secretariat. Everything is left to the secretariat to do as they see fit,” the committee observed.