We Want to Prepare Voters For the Election and the Post-Election Scenario’

Lovemore Madhuku speaking with IPS

HARARE, Jan 16 (IPS) - "If you run an inherently unfair election it will lead to political unrest in a post- election scenario," Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) told IPS.

"We are seeking to explain how a flawed electoral system like the one we have in Zimbabwe can easily be manipulated, resulting in an election losing value," Madhuku explained.

The NCA -- a grouping of Zimbabwean citizens and civic organisations including: labour movements, students and youth, women, churches, business groups, human rights organisations and political parties -- was formed here in 1997 to campaign for constitutional reform. Zimbabwe is still using an outdated 1979 Lancaster House Constitution.

NCA received worldwide acclaim following a successful "NO" Vote campaign during the February 2000 referendum on a new constitution. Since then, the NCA has been at loggerheads with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government.

The organisation is now organising what it calls a "special type" of voter education campaign in rural areas ahead of presidential, parliamentary and local government elections to be held in March.

IPS Zimbabwe Correspondent Tonderai Kwidini spoke to Madhuku about the new campaign:

Lovemore Madhuku: It is a special type of voter education. We are basically educating people on why it is necessary for them to go and vote in an election, explaining in detail why it is also important to vote in an election, which is free and fair.

We are seeking to explain how a flawed electoral system like the one we have in Zimbabwe can easily be manipulated resulting in an election losing value.

Essentially we are telling them that an election is not just joining a queue and casting a ballot but it is about voting with confidence without any fear that the election might be rigged. We are emphasising a new people driven and democratic election.

IPS: You to call it a "special type" of voter education?

LM: It is not technical in nature but simply seeks to arm the voter with the capacity to challenge a voting anomaly. If people go to vote expecting change, if it does not come, they must be satisfied with the outcome and understand fully why it did not come.

We want to cultivate a post election environment where Zimbabwean citizens will understand why a certain result will have come out. We want to prepare voters for an election and the post-election scenario. The elections will not have any meaning if they are held in the current hostile environment.

IPS: Zimbabwe is going to have elections in March. Are there any signs that the people you are reaching will have reason not to vote?

LM: Absolutely. There is still lack of freedom in the country. The media is still muzzled. Newspapers -- which were closed -- are yet to be opened, and everything is still being done as a secret and yet elections are a public event. Freedom of association and assembly is still not there and Mugabe is still using the all-powerful state apparatus to crush any descent including the all powerful police and army forces.

IPS: In the aftermath of the post-Kenyan election violence what can Zimbabwe learn as it goes into an election in March?

LM: The biggest lesson is that an independent electoral body, which is transparent, should run the election and that there should be a very transparent and quick way of solving electoral disputes.

If you run an inherently unfair election it will lead to political unrest in a post election scenario. The other lesson is that elections are not a simple issue that any person can just play around with, manipulating results, and runaway with it.

IPS: When did you start this campaign and whom are you specifically targeting?

LM: We started in November 2007 and intensified it around Christmas time through Christmas parties because we wanted to take advantage of the increased numbers of people who were in the rural areas at that time for the festive holiday. We are not targeting any specific group of people -- ours is a broad-based campaign reaching out to all Zimbabweans of different walks of life.

We are running this programme on a village level. So far we have been to Manicaland Province [eastern Zimbabwe] and Mashonaland East and Central [central Zimbabwe].

IPS: Zimbabweans -- as witnessed by voter apathy experienced in recent elections -- seem to have lost interest in the country’s electoral process. How are you cultivating voter interest at this time of hopelessness?

LM: It is this hopelessness that we are trying to take away from them and cultivate interest by preparing them for the post-election scenario where probably the change that they might be hoping for will not come. We want them to still be able to pick up the pieces after the elections and ask ‘what can we do.’ We will come back and emphasise the need for a democratic and people centred constitution.

IPS: What has been the response to the campaign?

LM: It has surprisingly been overwhelming -- although many people have been asking why they should be participating in an election whose electoral frameworks are not fair.

We have been telling them that it is important for them to vote, but we emphasise what sort of environment they should be voting in. As NCA we have been advocating that it is useless to participate in an election until the country gets a new democratic constitution --but we cannot stop those who want to participate in elections.

IPS: During the last presidential elections Zimbabweans were expectant and went to vote eagerly expecting that their vote will finally bring an end to Mugabe’s rule. But, that did not happen and opposition groups claimed electoral fraud, do you share the same view?

LM: The problem is that the opposition gospel has been that Mugabe must go. They have not been preparing people for a scenario, which will happen if Mugabe does not go.

IPS: Your organisation has been at odds with the government?

LM: There have been interferences from the police and state security agents. We are still waiting to hear from owners of the homesteads that we visited if they received any reprisals for hosting our programmes.

IPS: Are you working with any other organisations, which are also involved in voter education campaigns, such as: Artists for Democracy in Zimbabwe Trust (ADZT), Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN), and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC)?

LM: Not necessarily. These partners are dealing with technical aspects of elections, such as voter registration, while we are into civic education of the old type.

IPS: Do you think there is enough electoral information being channelled to the people of Zimbabwe with just under two months to go before the election?

LM: There is clearly not enough. Everything is being done in secret. All we hear is that the delimitation commission is parcelling out constituency boundaries -- how that is being done only God knows. We do not even know how many voters have been registered so far, it all remains Mugabe and his party’s secret.

(END/2008)


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