Opposition parties say it is not practical to hold elections by 31 July

Leaders of the main “opposition” political parties in Zimbabwe- the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change, Mavambo-Kusile-Dawn, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union and the Zimbabwe African National Union-Ndonga- today met and agreed that it was not practical to hold elections by 31 July as set by the Constitutional Court.

According to a statement issued by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party but signed by Tsvangirai himself, Dumiso Dabengwa for ZAPU, Edwin Mushoriwa for MDC-N, Simba Makoni for MKD and Reketai Semwayo for ZANU-Ndonga, the leaders noted the ruling of the Constitutional Court but said that at least nine keys issues must be implemented in line with the new constitution for there to be free and fair elections.

The issues that they said must be addressed were:

1. There should be mandatory minimum 30 day period for voter registration that is yet to start and which will spill into July.
2. Prior to the holding of elections amendments must be effected to the electoral law and to other laws that have a bearing on elections. Examples of such laws include POSA and AIPPA which impact on free political activity in terms of freedom of association , movement, expression and the media.
3. Section 61 subsections 4 of the constitution for instance, demands that the state owned media must be impartial and afford fair opportunity for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions in addition to determining independently the editorial content of their broadcast or other communication. This currently is not the case and there are no steps that have been taken to ensure the same. It is also ironic that the state media for instance, did not cover and adequately publish, the dissenting and competent judgement of deputy Chief Justice Malaba and justice Patel. This goes to show that our public media are yet to confirm to the requirements of the new constitution.( The Herald carried the judgment in full including the dissenting judgments of Justices Malaba and Patel on Saturday- Ed)
4. Section 208 subsection 2 of the constitution states that “neither the security service nor any of their members may, in the exercise of their functions, a) act in a partisan manner, b) further the interest of any political party or cause, c) prejudice the interest of any political party or cause or, d) violate the fundamental rights or freedoms of any person”.
5. And subsection 3 of section 208 of the constitution further says that, “members of the security services must not be active members or office bears of any political party or organisation”. There is therefore need to give effect to the above provisions by committing our security establishment to a written and signed code of conduct in line with the new constitution.
6. To that end, the government of Zimbabwe must ensure and assure citizens that elections will be held in a free and fair environment in keeping with the SADC guidelines and principles for conducting democratic elections and the agreed roadmap to elections.
7. The leaders expressed reservations about the practicality of the July 31st deadline set by the court and resolved that they will communicate their position to SADC. The parties therefore, look forward to the extra ordinary SADC summit to affirm previous SADC resolutions and the agreed roadmap to elections.
8. They noted that the court action, ironically supposedly informed by the desire to safeguard the rights of the individual applicant, has resulted in the infringement of the rights of millions of Zimbabweans, in particular the rights of eligible voters to have adequate time to register to vote and elect the government of their choice in a free and fair environment.
9. Lastly the political leaders argue all Zimbabweans to remain resolute to make the necessary change required in the country by registering and voting in large numbers.

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