US embassy cable - 04HARARE2053

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002053 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
AF/S FOR BNEULING 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE, D. TEITELBAUM 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, ZI, Parliamentary Affairs 
SUBJECT: SECOND ELECTORAL BILL PASSES ZIM PARLIAMENT 
 
REF: HARARE 2003 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  On December 16, Parliament passed the 
Electoral Bill, the second of the electoral reform bills 
(reftel).  The bill incorporated amendments proposed by both 
parties, (though not all the MDC's proposals) and was not 
rejected by the MDC-dominated Parliamentary Legal Committee. 
If implemented, the bill would improve certain aspects of 
election administration, but it did not address many of the 
election environment's key flaws.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) The Electoral Bill will replace the existing Electoral 
Act and complements the recently passed Zimbabwe Electoral 
Commission (ZEC) Bill.  On December 17, the government-run 
Herald newspaper proclaimed that Zimbabwe, with the passage 
of both bills, was now compliant with the SADC election 
guidelines and principles.  The Electoral Bill clarifies some 
of the functions of the Electoral Supervisory Commission 
(ESC) and the Registrar-General, both of which are 
constitutional bodies; sets out the procedures for 
registration of voters; creates an Electoral Court to deal 
with registration disputes; and details some aspects of the 
conduct of elections.  The bill, as did the previous 
Electoral Act, requires an individual to be resident in a 
constituency in order to register to vote there, and an 
individual can be removed from the voter roll if absent from 
the constituency for twelve continuous months. 
 
3. (U) The bill received a non-adverse report from the 
Parliamentary Legal Committee, which decides on the 
constitutionality of proposed bills and is composed of a 
majority of MDC MPs.  The Justice Committee, the Minister of 
Justice, and the MDC proposed several amendments to the bill, 
many of which were accepted.  The amendments include 
guarantees to the right of all parties to access media and to 
campaign and the right of citizens to participate in civic 
organizations to influence and challenge government policies, 
the use of indelible ink on ballots, the extension of voting 
hours to 12, and allowance of every voter in line at the 
close of polling hours to vote. 
 
4. (U) However, not all MDC amendments were accepted.  The 
bill as passed allows the ESC to choose its staff from within 
civil service and may include members of the uniformed 
forces.  The MDC proposed an amendment to allow the ESC to 
recruit staff from outside of the civil service and objected 
to the possible secondment of the uniformed forces to the ESC 
staff, as their presence could intimidate voters.  The MDC 
also proposed an amendment to allow relatives of disabled or 
illiterate voters to assist them in voting.  Instead, the 
bill provides for a monitor (an ESC staff member) and a 
police officer for those in need of assistance.  An 
MDC-proposed amendment for translucent ballot boxes was 
rejected, as Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa said it 
was an administrative, not legislative, matter and that he 
had already announced his decision to use translucent ballot 
boxes.  Finally, the MDC proposed an amendment requiring the 
Registrar-General to provide electronic copies of the voter 
roll to all parties, which was rejected by Chinamasa on the 
basis that electronic rolls were subject to tampering. 
 
5. (SBU) COMMENT:  The Government,s claim that the Electoral 
Bill and the ZEC Bill make it compliant with the SADC 
election principles is at best overstated. The adoption of 
some of the MDC,s amendments to the Electoral bill is 
encouraging, and some of the Government's procedural 
concessions were constructive and meaningful, if not decisive 
moves toward free and fair elections.  However, voter rolls 
historically have been central to MDC complaints of elections 
shortcomings, and the failure to liberalize access to 
electronic rolls is a potentially damaging and ominous 
disappointment.  Another major disappointment is the failure 
to provide for absentee voting for millions of Zimbabwean 
citizens resident abroad.  In addition, provisions on media 
access and freedom to campaign offer the opposition legal 
tools for the campaign season, but it remains to be seen 
whether this self-serving expression of political will by the 
ruling party will translate into concrete action if the MDC 
re-enters the race.  In this vein, police continue to deny 
MDC applications for meetings, but several MDC officials 
report that there is a clear trend to be more permissive on 
almost a nationwide basis.  While the GOZ may intend only to 
make disingenuous gestures to sell its election to the 
international community, the marginal opening of election 
space may present the opposition with meaningful 
opportunities to re-connect with and re-energize a 
politically alienated electorate. 
DELL