Think tank and advocacy institution on elections and democracy, the Election Resource Centre (ERC), has bemoaned the lack of a comprehensive platform to tackle electoral reforms one year after disputed elections.
The ERC executive director, Tawanda Chimhini, said there is limited zeal and political will to address the much needed electoral reforms.
“The absence of a broad-based platform to consider reforms, one year after the disputed 2018 harmonized elections is reflective of limited sincerity and political will towards real and effective reforms. The manner in which reforms are being considered, proposed and effected remains largely exclusionary and run the risk of being rejected by some election stakeholders to the detriment of future elections,” Chimhini said.
Electoral reforms remains a hot potato in the holding of elections in Zimbabwe which had always held contested elections.
Chimhini said electoral reform process must involve all the stakeholders.
“…the responsibility to institute reforms is a collective one which government has to show interest in sharing. There is nothing illegal about government convening national discussions to determine both the content and form of reforms before rushing to gazette decisions exclusively arrived at by cabinet,” said Chimhini.
Chimhini said the electoral reform agenda is an urgent issue at the same time calling for a roadmap with timelines to address and monitor the implemented reforms.
“A pathway towards effective reforms must therefore, contain an agreed position on what is working and what is not, what should be reformed and why, how the reforms will be effected, timelines for delivery of the reforms and a monitoring framework to assess the functionality of the implemented reforms.”
Source: Election Resource Centre (ERC)
