Zimbabweans urged to accept poll results

Harare, March 18, 2008 (New Ziana)

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) urged Zimbabweans on Tuesday to accept the results of the March 29 harmonised elections to avoid a repeat of what happened in Kenya.
Responding to a question during a function to brief observers and stakeholders on its state of preparedness for the elections, ZEC commissioner Bishop Jonathan Siyachitema said there was need for the electorate in Zimbabwe to be politically tolerant.
“The composition of people in Kenya is different from Zimbabwe,” he said.
“The people of Zimbabwe are sufficiently mature to accept results of elections.”
The MDC Tsvangirai faction House of Assembly candidate for Glen View, Paul Madzore had asked measures that ZEC had put in place to avoid post election violence that occurred in Kenya.
ZEC chairperson George Chiweshe said the situation that occurred in Kenya would not occur in Zimbabwe since the commission was composed of men and women of integrity whose political backgrounds were also mixed.
Chiweshe urged political parties and candidates to refrain from violence since they had recourse to the law to redress grievances arising from the elections.
“Violence is blind,” he said.  “It affects everyone, those that would have won and those that would have lost.”
He urged political leaders to accept defeat.
There was also need for politicians to behave responsibly for their followers to follow suit.
Zimbabweans will for the first time on March 29 this year hold four crucial elections at one time to choose people who will represent them in local councils, House Assembly, Senate and State President following amendments to the Constitution and the Electoral Act.
In the past, elections were held separately with those for President taking place after every six years, those for the House of Assembly after every five years and every four years for local government.
The system was abandoned as it was realized that besides being costly, it was contributing to voter apathy and fatigue.
In keeping with the Southern Africa Development Community Guidelines on holding Democratic Elections, the Zimbabwean government amended the Constitution and the Electoral Act to constitute ZEC as the sole body responsible for organising and conducting elections and referendums in the country.
The changes resulted in the abolition of the Election Directorate, the Registrar General of Elections, Delimitation Commission and the Electoral Supervisory Commission with ZEC assuming further functions of delimitation of constituencies, accreditation of observers and monitoring of the media during the election period.
Elections for the House of Assembly and Senate are based on the first past post principle while those for President are based on the single member majority where candidates are required to secure 51 percent of the votes to be declared the winner.
In the event of a deadlock, a rerun should be held within 21 days of the election.
At least 5 406 candidates successfully filed nomination papers for the elections with four of these contesting for the office of President, 774 for the House of Assembly, 197 for the Senate and 3 431 for local government seats.
A total of 413 candidates, of which 411 councilors from both Zanu PF and MDC, and one each for the House of Assembly and Senate have already won the elections after they were not opposed at nomination, leaving 1 541 local government, 209 House of Assembly and 59 Senate seats to be contested.
At least 5 934 768 registered voters are expected to take part in the elections in which at least 17 political parties and a number of Independent candidates are contesting.
So far at least 1 428 observers, 65 foreign and 1 363 local have been accredited to observe the elections, which will be ward based.
New Ziana