Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) remains unsure about contesting crucial parliamentary elections due in the next 12 months. The dilemma is whether to participate in a poll the party fears will not be free or fair, or to boycott and risk becoming politically irrelevant, political analysts say.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Monday that while the party had started preparations for the March 2005 election, it was still undecided over taking part in the ballot.
“At the moment we do not have a position yet as to whether we are participating in that election,” Tsvangirai said. “What we are doing now is to prepare for the election, but the decision to take part will be taken at a more appropriate time. That decision will depend on whether the environment sufficiently allows for the holding of a truly democratic, free and fair election.”
According to the latest monthly report on political violence by the NGO coalition, Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, “victimisation and intimidation on the basis of one’s political affiliation continue to be committed in Zimbabwe. It is imperative that an equal playing field be accorded to all candidates in future elections in Zimbabwe, if the government is committed to move towards free and fair elections.”
University of Zimbabwe political scientist, Eldred Masunungure, said the MDC was in a quandary. “The playing field is not level and participating in the election means certain defeat for the MDC.”
But he added, “If the opposition party boycotts the election it would have virtually surrendered parliament to Zanu-PF. It would have given up a critical platform – in fact, the MDC might, as a result, pale into insignificance.”
Zanu-PF, left with total control of parliament, would be free to change the constitution as it saw fit, and enact legislation unchallenged, analysts point out.
If MDC boycotted the 2005 poll, one of the few options left to the party would be to use protest action to try and achieve through civil disobedience the political change it was unable to win through the ballot box, said constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku.
“Boycotting and sitting at home will not achieve anything. It could actually destroy the MDC,” said Madhuku, who heads the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), an umbrella organisation of churches and pro-democracy groups campaigning for constitutional reform.
Because public demonstrations are illegal without police clearance, the security forces have been able to smother anti-government protests organised by the MDC, NCA and labour unions.
The MDC, formed five years ago, has emerged as the main political challenge to President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF’s 23-year hold on power. In its first ballot in 2000, the party clinched 57 parliamentary seats against the ruling party’s 62 elected seats.
Tsvangirai lost to Mugabe in a presidential ballot held two years later, a poll condemned as unfair by several observer groups including those from the Commonwealth and European Union.
Tsvangirai, who acknowledged that debate on whether to contest the 2005 election was still swirling within the MDC, insisted political violence must end, and the electorate’s right to select a government of its choice be upheld before the party could agree to participate in the ballot.
The MDC has demanded the overhaul of the country’s electoral laws, which it believes disadvantage the opposition, with an independent commission agreed to by all stakeholders set up to run the 2005 poll.
Under current legislation Zimbabwe’s Registrar General, appointed by Mugabe, is in charge of the election process, from compiling the voters’ rolls to counting the ballots.
The MDC and other opposition parties have accused Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede of being biased in favour of Zanu-PF, a charge Mudede denies.
Tsvangirai also wants Mugabe’s powers to appoint 30 people to parliament to be abolished. He said the unelected parliamentarians gave the ruling party a built-in lead before even a single ballot was cast.
The MDC’s list of reforms includes the demand for all political parties to be given equal access to the public media, which rights groups say is currently highly partisan and monopolised by Zanu-PF.
Before agreeing to participate in the 2005 poll, Tsvangirai insisted that the government rein in pro-Zanu-PF militias accused of committing violence and human rights abuses against perceived government opponents.
But Zanu-PF information secretary and member of the politburo, Nathan Shamuyarira, dismissed the MDC’s concerns and said the government saw no need to change the country’s electoral laws.
“We have an election system that has served us satisfactorily for the past years. We will continue with that – there is nothing to change,” Shamuyarira said. “The laws governing elections are proper and fair because anyone can contest elections in Zimbabwe and win, as shown by the MDC itself when it won 57 seats in the 2000 parliamentary election, which was organised and conducted by us.”
Shamuyarira accused the MDC of being “sore losers”, who accuse Zanu-PF and the government of rigging elections when they lose, but happily accept the results when they are the victors.
“It is the MDC’s tactic and we are not going to be swayed by that. We will proceed with the election in 2005, with or without the MDC. If they boycott, it is because they do not have support and they know they were going to lose anyway,” said the veteran politician. – Irin