By Lloyd Mupfudze- The delimitation of electoral boundaries as provided for in the Constitution of Zimbabwe lacks a provision for citizen participation in the process.
Elections are a major factor in the stabilization and democratization of countries. One cannot imagine a democratic system without free and competitive elections held at regular intervals.
Therefore, for elections to be duly democratic, they have to be held under certain rules and procedures known in advance and agreed upon by the society as a whole. Ward and constituency boundaries should be agreed upon by the whole society.
The 2023 harmonised election will be preceded by a delimitation of electoral boundaries for both wards and constituencies. There are reports that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has already commenced its work.
The constitution of Zimbabwe provides for delimitation of electoral boundaries in section 161 once every ten years. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) must conduct a delimitation of the electoral boundaries into which Zimbabwe is to be divided.
After delimiting wards and constituencies, the Commission submits to the President a preliminary report containing a list of the wards and constituencies, with the names assigned to each and a description of their boundaries, a map or maps showing the wards and constituencies and any further information or particulars which the Commission considers necessary.
In dividing Zimbabwe into constituencies, the commission takes into account, in respect of any area, its physical features, the means of communication in the area, the geographical distribution of voters registered on the common roll and the community of interest between them.
I posit that a major limitation of the process of delimitation of electoral boundaries is that there is no constitutional provision for public participation in the delimitation process.
The process therefore excludes the involvement by interested stakeholders, for instance political parties, civic groups, residents’ associations, women’s and youth organisations.
The electoral Act advocates for consultation rather than participation, which means that ZEC is not compelled to incorporate the public but may consult them on issues that they think are necessary to do so.
Whilst the president must cause the preliminary report to be laid before parliament and refer the report back to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for further consideration of any matter or issue the public is denied the same privilege.
It is important that the commission’s reports should be inspected and verified by members of the public before they are finalised in the same way and for the same reasons as voters’ rolls are subject to public inspection.
There is need for improvements in the transparency and effectiveness of ZEC. The report should be published in the Gazette and be open for inspection and comments by the public before it is laid before parliament.
The election management body should have the ability to ensure the involvement of various stakeholders in the entire delimitation process. The delimitation process as a key aspect in the electoral reform agenda must be undertaken in line with the aspirations of the people.
Electoral reform as a concept refers to a wide range of issues. These issues include the delimitation of constituency boundaries. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) posits that “electoral reform is a broad term that covers, among other things, improving the responsiveness of electoral processes to public desires and expectations”.
The delimitation exercise in the past showed severe signs of gerrymandering, which was designed to generate an advantage for the ruling party in the election.
There is also currently widespread public perception of government’s manipulations and interferences in the work of the electoral management body and the chronic accusations of bias against the opposition political parties.
Zimbabwe cannot afford to continue experiencing conflict around the delimitation exercise and there is therefore need for a participatory process involving the public, political parties and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).