Preventing Electoral Fraud report SAIRR May 11 ... - AfricanLiberty.org

There also needs to be far greater transparency in the way the ZEC conducts its business
and its electoral administration in general. During the parliamentary elections of March
2008, the ZEC seemed to be paralysed by the prospect of a possible MDC victory and
simply clammed up. Rumours of every kind swept the country because the ZEC had
failed in its task to provide authoritative information as speedily as possible. Then, when
the parliamentary results were announced, they were released at a snail's pace and over a
day or more. Further, each MDC victory was accompanied by a partnering Zanu-PF
victory, apparently with the intention of creating the impression of a virtually tied race.
Yet the fact – as must have been obvious from early on – was that the MDC had won a
decisive victory. A similar attempt to mask the results of the presidential first round
merely undermined the credibility of the ZEC further still.
The Background: Gaining Access to the Voters' Roll
For free and fair elections to take place (at last) in Zimbabwe, it is essential that the ZEC
be constituted impartially, that it operate independently of all parties, and that it be
effective. Similarly, it is vital that an accurate voters' roll be drawn up at last. This must
be free from the partisan control and manipulation of the past, have credibility for all
political parties, and be easily accessible to the general public.
This last point is worth stressing. In the past the voters' roll has been shrouded in a
habitual secrecy as if it were a grave matter of national security. Attempts to gain access
to it have been treated with contempt, and every possible obstruction has been placed in
the path of those attempting to exercise what ought to be their normal citizen rights to full
and easy access to the roll.
This Report is unique in that it is based on a full examination of the actual voters' roll as
it stood in October 2010. Hitherto, the only information available on the current roll was
that provided in January 2011 by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a
coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). But the ZESN report 4 was based on
a sample survey of a mere 513 people from a “hard” (printed) copy of the roll.
For this Report, by contrast, we have worked on the full roll in digital format, which has
enabled a far more comprehensive and authoritative evaluation.
When the ZESN Report was released, it was admitted on all sides – including by Mr
Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar-General – that the roll was “in a shambles”. The ZEC
called upon Mr Mudede to explain, and then gave him three months to “fix” the roll. This
expectation was ridiculous, in terms of both the time and the personnel required. Quite
clearly, an entirely new roll needed to be drawn up, a task not easily performed in three
months. In addition, the last person to whom such a task could be entrusted was the very
man seemingly responsible for various defective rolls in the past.
4
ZESN, A Report on a Voters' Roll Observation Conducted in Zimbabwe (Harare), cyclostyled,
January 2011
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