BULAWAYO – The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has tabled proposals to reform electoral laws, including compelling political parties to register in order to avoid double candidates as witnessed in the 2023 general elections.
ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba says the current legislative framework does not require political parties to register, which she blames on ZEC accepting – in some cases – as many as three candidates claiming to be from the same party.
“To solve the chaos around the nomination process, I made two recommendations: to register political parties or give time limits on electoral court challenges. This means the electoral court will stop accepting court challenges 30 days before election day,” Chigumba told MPs in Bulawayo on Sunday during an induction workshop of the justice, legal and parliamentary affairs committee.
“What we have are individuals notifying ZEC that they have established a political party and requesting to be added to the database. There is no political will to register political parties. It is only at the nomination court where ZEC has an opportunity to legally engage political parties. During the nomination court process, you find a lot of chaos as candidates are made to comply with laid-down procedures.
“At the moment, nomination officers cannot disqualify any candidate from standing. If you come as 10 individuals claiming to represent a political party, the nomination officer will have to register all of you.
“The issue of who is the legal owner of a political party is a legal decision and nomination court officers cannot address that as they are not legal officers.”
The double candidate phenomenon hit the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change most, and the party was eventually hijacked by impostor Sengezo Tshabangu who claimed to be the party’s interim secretary general and caused the recall of over 100 elected councillors and MPs.
Chigumba used the opportunity to push back against some of the criticism of ZEC, including claims of voter suppression after it failed to deliver ballot papers to opposition strongholds in Harare and Bulawayo on time.
She blames litigation by some disqualified candidates which went on into the final week before elections held on August 23. Her proposal is to put a 30-day cutoff point to appeals, giving ZEC enough time to procure and distribute election materials.
“We had an unprecedented number of appeals and these were in different courts. Some candidates would lodge an appeal in different courts in Harare and if they were not satisfied, they would go to Mutare,” she said.
