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Zimbabwe: Free and Fair Election Unlikely
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Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC)
PRESS RELEASE
19 March 2008
Posted to the web 19 March 2008
As Zimbabweans head to the polls in the country's March 29 elections, serious electoral flaws and human rights abuses by the government undermine any meaningful prospect of free and fair elections, Human Rights Watch said today.
In a 59-page report, "All Over Again: Human Rights Abuses and Flawed Electoral Conditions in Zimbabwe's Coming General Elections," Human Rights Watch documents how the government and the ruling party ZANU-PF, in the run up to the 2008 elections, have engaged in widespread intimidation of the opposition; have restricted freedom of association and assembly; and have manipulated food and farming equipment distribution to gain political advantage. Human Rights Watch also documented biased media coverage in addition to numerous incidents of police and state-security violence against human rights activists and perceived opposition supporters throughout Zimbabwe. The report is based on research conducted over seven weeks across the country and in the capital, Harare.
"Despite some improvements on paper to the election regulations, Zimbabweans aren't free to vote for the candidates of their choice," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "While there are four candidates running for president and many political parties involved, the election process itself is skewed."
Zimbabweans will vote in synchronized presidential, parliamentary, senatorial, and local elections, the first since changes to Zimbabwe's constitution in 2007.
The Zimbabwean government claims that the elections are in line with the Guidelines and Principles Governing Democratic Elections agreed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Human Rights Watch called on international observers, in particular those from SADC in Zimbabwe, to monitor the elections and to judge the political context in which the elections are being held, not just the electoral process itself. SADC observers should publicly, promptly, and clearly condemn failures to uphold regional and international standards.
SADC's post-election assessments of Zimbabwe's last three elections were alarmingly positive despite the widespread human rights abuses and electoral irregularities that were documented by local and international organizations.
Previous presidential elections in 2002, which re-elected President Robert Mugabe, were characterized by violence and electoral malpractice, mostly by the ruling party Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the state security forces. Similar flaws and violations were documented during parliamentary elections in 2000 and 2005.
After SADC named South African President Thabo Mbeki as mediator between the ruling party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in March 2007, the South African government stated that one of its main objectives was to ensure credible elections in Zimbabwe, the outcome of which would not be contested. But the current repression in Zimbabwe shows that objective has not been met.
"The onus for reporting on violations in the 2008 elections rests with the observer mission and other African countries," said Gagnon. "In the days remaining until the elections, they should urge the Zimbabwean government to allow electoral observers to visit all election sites and openly report on any election-related violence and intimidation."
In spite of new provisions in Zimbabwe's Electoral Laws Amendment Act banning intimidation and violence, Human Rights Watch documented numerous such incidents, mainly carried out by ruling party supporters and state security agents, between September 2007 and March 2008 in the areas visited.
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On February 19, 2008 in Harare, a group of ZANU-PF supporters seized nine members of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) as they tried to distribute flyers for the organization's "save our education" campaign. The ZANU-PF supporters took the teachers groups to ZANU-PF provincial headquarters in Harare, and beat them with iron bars, pieces of wood, and pieces of furniture for over an hour. One woman from the group was sexually assaulted.
A local activist from Makonde constituency in Mashonaland West province told Human Rights Watch about the intense intimidation of opposition supporters in his area. "The opposition MDC members are visited daily by ZANU-PF youth who shout and sing outside their homes," he said. "They call them sell-outs and tell them they will deal with the MDC candidates after the elections."
Despite also promising a "zero tolerance" approach to violence in the lead-up to the elections, state security agents and police have been involved in incidents of violence and intimidation against opposition members and human rights activists. On January 25, 2008, for example, police viciously beat and arrested 25 members of the organization Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe (RoHRZ) in Harare as they peacefully marched in protest against repressive legislation and police harassment of the opposition MDC. The police subjected the activists to cruel and degrading treatment, forcing them to crawl on the ground and eat their own shoes.
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The notion that the elections were unlikely to be free and fair was proved wrong. Zimbabweans reported that they were free to vote for the candidate of their choice. These were the most peaceful election in Africa. It is now up to Robert Mugabe to accept the results. Also the SADC and AU observers do not agree with the statement that the these were not free elections. Election results do not depend on EU or American observers. Most Africans are at easy with fellow African observers and this is going to be the standard. The UK and others had an... [Read Full Text]
I agree that US and other Western elections haven't been very fair. But what I want to know is how we can support the elections, to stop violence and intimidation? How are people going to vote freely? Would a multinational force to observe and protect the election observers be useful?
I don't want to hear more reports of Zimbabweans starving. I know people who have lived there, black and white, and I want it to go back to being a strong part of Africa, as its people deserve. Jenny (UK)
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