The leader of Zimbabwe’s largest opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) says since the country attained independence in 1980, credible and undisputed elections have been a pipe dream in Zimbabwe.
Officially launching the party’s Pre-Election Pact on Electoral Reforms (PREPARE) blueprint, Chamisa said the “sacrifices of our forebearers have been ridiculed by those who undermine our liberation struggle and its core values.
“It is unbearable betrayal that having fought so hard for decades, the survivors of oppression and subjugation can themselves turn the weapon of the colonizer on their own people. Zimbabwe’s history of disputed elections is testimony that our nation has long forgotten and in fact abandoned the key gains of our liberation struggle; the real purpose for which the war was fought and won.”
Chamisa said Zimbabwe has over the years been deluged by a series of elections that failed credibility and integrity tests.
“The political climate has consistently exhibited a characteristic perennial failure to uphold the citizens’ political rights and freedoms. The 2018 Election Observer Missions and all the other critical election bodies have shared this perspective on electoral reforms. It is however unfortunate that as it currently pertains, there is insufficient appetite to align the electoral laws to the Constitution and to holistically implement progressive laws that guarantee a credible election.”
Chamisa said bad politics corrupts good economics. “Hence, in this country, there is an extricable link between good governance and credible regular elections and a stable prosperous economy. Certainly, there is a direct relationship between the sham elections that have been conducted in Zimbabwe and the challenges the country has been facing for years.
“This crisis of disputed elections is the main source of our political problem that manifests itself in a myriad of economic and social crisis for decades. For Zimbabwe to rediscover herself and prosper, we must all unite, PREPARE and find new national consensus for nation building in the spirit of oneness, peace, and prosperity.”
He further noted that elections are the epicenter of good governance and prosperity in order to reform Zimbabwe’s electoral systems to give fulfillment to the liberation promise and constitutional imperatives.
“The Pre-Election Pact on Electoral Reforms (PREPARE) blueprint proffers the solution to this political quagmire of disputed elections. PREPARE is a clarion call for all citizenry, election stakeholders, ZEC, Parliament, the Executive and other relevant institutions to urgently dialogue on the envisaged electoral laws. The seven minimum electoral reform pillars sufficiently PREPARE Zimbabwe for a levelled electoral playing field and the future political democracy of the country. This blueprint is a product of wide Citizens consultation with many stakeholders and is motivated by the desire to give effect to the requirements of the electoral standards prescribed in the Constitution and including the regional and global best practices.
“It is therefore after extensive consultations with Citizens, and with profound modesty that I present the seven minimum electoral reform pillars which should urgently inform Zimbabwe’s electoral reforms dialogue to avoid a contested 2023 election outcome.”
According to Chamisa, the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe was a collective quest to create a nation founded upon the people’s sovereignty and the time-tested principle of one-man one-vote.
“Our forebears sacrificed life and limb to birth this great nation where the right of every citizen to vote and self-determine is guaranteed and secured. The right to vote is so fundamental and so precious without which a people cannot truly be free and independent. A vote is the basis of any social contract; the source of authority for any person to govern in a modern democratic society.
“Voting is the instrument by which citizens can self-govern and self-correct. It is a people’s voice to define and dictate the fate and destiny of society. Voting sculptures the present and future of any society. The right to vote is the lifeblood of any democratic, progressive and prosperous nation. That right must be protected through peaceful, free, fair, and credible elections that are held through a process that is simple, accurate, verifiable, secure and transparent.”
Zanu PF officials were unreachable for comment.