Harare — ZANU-PF and MDC-T have agreed to establish a sub-committee to work with the police in curbing violence and have also agreed to be signatories to a declaration crafted by the multi-party liaison committee condemning political violence ahead of the presidential run-off on the 27th of this month.

The multi-party liaison committee -- facilitated by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and made up of representatives of Zanu-PF, MDC-T and the police -- provides a platform for parties to resolve electoral problems amicably.

The establishment of the sub-committee comes at a time when Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa has called on ZEC to enforce all electoral regulations in order to close loopholes that might trigger election-related disputes.

Representatives from the two political parties held a closed-door meeting in Harare yesterday facilitated by ZEC under the multi-party liaison committee. In an interview, ZEC deputy director for public relations Mr Tendayi Pamire confirmed the agreement. "The meeting was conducted in a very friendly environment and the political parties have agreed to two strategies for conflict resolution.

"They agreed to establish a sub-committee that will work with the police in curbing political violence and to be signatories to a declaration crafted by the multi-party liaison committee condemning political violence," Mr Pamire said. The sub-committee would comprise representatives from the two political parties, ZEC, police, army and the President's Office. "We are going to meet again (as a multi-party committee) on Tuesday to discuss their terms of reference," Mr Pamire said. On its part, ZEC granted a request by Zanu-PF and MDC-T to increase the number of election agents.

"The commission has approved the request by political parties contesting the run-off to increase the number of election agents from one to two per polling station and from one to four at the National Command Centre for transparency purposes," he said. ZEC also took the opportunity to update the political parties on electoral issues. "We have given them an update on electoral issues, especially postal voting. They witnessed the opening and sealing of postal ballots yesterday (Tuesday).

"The commission also advised them that they could now approach various media houses with their programmes and adverts since we are already in the election period," Mr Pamire said.

Cde Chinamasa yesterday said ZEC should enforce all electoral regulations in order to close loopholes that might trigger disputes related to the electoral process. In an interview, Cde Chinamasa - who is also Zanu-PF chairman of the media sub-committee - said it had been noted that in the March 29 harmonised elections ZEC did not enforce some of the relevant regulations. "We discovered that ZEC was not enforcing some of the regulations that include Section 20 (1) of the Electoral Regulations 2005, which deals with the privileges of observers, chief election agents and election agents at a polling station.

"Under these regulations, observers and election agents are allowed to check the voters' hands for the presence of the indelible ink to ensure that they have not voted more than once. "Our observations from the March polls show that the observers and election agents were not allowed anywhere near these processes," he said. Under the regulations, observers and election agents are also allowed to check whether or not each voter's name appears on the voters' roll and that each voter is issued one ballot paper only. They are also privileged to confirm that a line is drawn through the number and surname of the voter on the roll as evidence that the voter has received a ballot paper.

Cde Chinamasa called upon ZEC to ensure polling officers were conversant with the electoral regulations. He welcomed the new electoral regulations gazetted by the commission last week, which are meant to speed up the release of poll results.

"As Zanu-PF, we support totally these improvements which promote transparency in the electoral process and thereby avoiding future disputes about the results," Cde Chinamasa said. MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said his party was not yet satisfied with the new poll regulations According to Statutory Instrument 82A of 2008, V11 and V23 forms will now be signed by the presiding and ward election officers respectively in the presence of candidates or their election agents.

Candidates or their election agents will also sign the forms as witnesses and this will speed up the release of results because all the concerned parties would sign after agreeing to the information on the forms. The forms contain the number of votes garnered by candidates, serial numbers of ballot papers and the number of ballot papers. Zimbabweans go the polls on June 27 to vote in a presidential run-off pitting President Mugabe of Zanu-PF against MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The run-off will be held concurrently with House of Assembly elections in Gwanda South, Pelandaba-Mpopoma and Redcliff, which were postponed following the death of duly nominated MDC candidates in the constituencies before polling on March 29.