By Alois Vinga
CRISIS in Zimbabwe Coalition’s (CiZC) has established that the country is not yet ready to hold free, fair and credible elections due to a number of systemic bottlenecks impeding transparency.
On January 17, 2023, the CiZC hosted a Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Indaba on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Delimitation Process and the general political environment ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Indaba interrogated the technical aspects of the 2023 general elections as well as the general political environment.
The CSOs Indaba noted that issues relating to the technical aspects and the general political environment point to yet another flawed election.
It is expected there will be another legitimacy crisis in Zimbabwe.
“Events currently occurring on the ground point to yet another bloody election in 2023 and Zimbabwe is not prepared for free, fair and credible polls.
“There is a deliberate attempt by the State to entrench authoritarianism and move towards a one party state,” said CiZC in a communiqué published after the meeting.
Participants at the meeting also noted that the ZEC delimitation process is fraught with irregularities and remains part of a broader scheme to rig and tilt elections in favor of the ruling party, Zanu PF.
The CSOs said ZEC remains captured and continues to work as an appendage of ZANU-PF pointing out to discredited elections in 2023.
CiZC said electoral reforms remain a pipe dream in Zimbabwe with the country’s elections failing to meet guidelines of the African Charter on Elections, Democracy and Governance pointing out that Zimbabwe is yet to implement recommendations from previous Electoral Observer Missions.
“Zimbabwe continues to witness political violence which is being perpetrated by the ruling ZANU PF against the country’s major opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and this has created an uneven playing field with the State making concerted efforts to ban opposition events.
“The Coalition shall intensify advocacy campaigns at the regional and international level and this also includes pushing for long-term observer missions ahead of the 2023 elections,” added CiZC.
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