Time Running Out For Electoral Reforms - Welshman Ncube
A CCC senior official, Welshman Ncube, has called for the urgent implementation of electoral reforms on voter registration, transparency of the voter’s roll, and the right of political parties to freely campaign.
Zimbabwe is only a few months away from holding general elections which are scheduled for 2023 but opposition political parties claim the political field is tilted in ZANU PF’s favour.
Ncube made the comments following the launch of CCC’s Pre-Election Pact on Electoral Reforms (PREPARE), which calls for electoral reforms before the next elections. Said Ncube:
As provided in the constitution, voter registration must be continuously accessible to people.
This thing of saying that outside the outreach programme, you can only register at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) offices like in Bulawayo is wholly unacceptable.
It means people have no effective access to voter registration.
Ncube also claimed that the delimitation of constituencies has not been done openly whilst time is running out.
He warned that going into an election without implementing electoral reforms will result in disputed results. Said Ncube:
The moment you have disputed elections you will have legitimacy issues. If ever you are a government where the majority of people don’t believe it is there by virtue of their sovereign right or that they put that government there, that government will never have the moral and political authority to lead effectively.
Hence you continue to have the characteristics of a failed state, a failed economy, politics and a failed everything.
No one will be convinced about the outcome and resultantly the government is never going to be able to change the fortune of the country.
So it is important for all parties to recognise that it might be late but there is an urgent need for genuine sincere dialogue over some of these issues.
It is important to talk about these things, time is of the essence.
Ncube called for political tolerance and bemoaned ZANU PF’s alleged penchant for violence and the use of other coercive measures to win votes. | CITE
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