Preserving lives through delayed democratic processes

16 Oct, 2020 - 00:10 0 Views
Preserving lives through delayed democratic processes

The ManicaPost

Chenai Mutasa Post Correspondent
IN recent weeks, Government has been accused of taking the Covid-19 pandemic as a scapegoat to mutilate constitutional processes.

Under Statutory Instrument (SI) 225A of 2020, Vice President and Health and Child Care Minister, General (Retired) Constantino Chiwenga on October 2 announced the suspension of by-elections that were slated for December 2020.

The suspension is also in terms of Section 68 of the Public Health Act (Chapter 15:17).

The suspension of elections is in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s guidelines that discourage gatherings, upholds physical distancing and encourages people to minimise their movements.

If the by-elections were to go ahead, enforcing WHO guidelines would be a mammoth task.

Some political party supporters often turn into hooligans and goons before, during and after elections. With such careless people, going ahead with the by-elections would have seen the lives of many people being endangered.

It is also critical to highlight that elections don’t start and end with the electorate queuing up to vote. A lot is involved.

Political parties have to gather their supporters and address rallies. Candidates and senior party members have to travel from one point to another, addressing those rallies. All this poses a threat to the people’s health in light of Covid-19.

In addition, it is next to impossible to enforce physical distancing and wearing of face masks at political rallies.

Among other issues, this prompted Government to suspend the holding of by-elections to preserve lives.

But not to the surprise of many, Government critics allege that the legality of SI225A is dubious, while others claim that Zanu PF is ‘afraid’ of losing the by-elections since they are to be held in MDC-Alliance ‘strongholds’.

These critics have a memory of a mouse; they forget that elections are not the only process that has been suspended in Zimbabwe due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The same thing happened to Independence Day, Heroes’ Day as well as Defences Forces’ Day celebrations.

Apart from these, annual church gatherings that often take place in August were banned and remain banned.

Under normal circumstances, universities hold graduation ceremonies from October to November. This year it is all happening differently as only a few people are allowed to attend physically while the rest participate virtually.

The allegations that Zanu PF is trying to silence the opposition through the banning of gatherings is a misconception.

Besides, the delayed democratic process will still take place once the conditions are conducive; and lives would have been preserved.

Exploring mail voting 
More often than not, Government critics think that everything that happens in the United States of America is ‘democratic’ and that it must be emulated by all countries.

In light of Covid-19, the number of Americans that will vote through mail in the national election on November 3 is expected to nearly double due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mail voting is not new in the USA. Nearly one in four voters cast their 2016 presidential ballots that way.

At least three-quarters of all American voters will be eligible to receive a ballot in their mail for the 2020 election, the most in USA history. If recent election trends hold and turn-out increases, as experts predict, roughly 80 million mail ballots will flood election offices in November, more than double the number that were returned in 2016.

In postal or mail voting, ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.

The rapid and seismic shift in how Americans will vote is because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Concerns about the potential for virus transmission at polling places have forced many states to try and implement mail voting despite the protest by the incumbent — Mr Donald Trump — the godfather of opposition political parties in Africa.

Zimbabwe’s case

If Zimbabwe had the necessary resources and had long planned for this, maybe mail voting would have been an option for the pending parliamentary elections mainly brought about by the recall of MDC-Alliance Members of National Assembly by MDC-T.

This follows a court ruling that confirmed that Dr Thokozani Khupe is the legitimate leader of the MDC.

However, since 2000, the MDC formations have always been refusing to accept the outcome of all election processes in this country. They always argue that elections are ‘rigged’ in Zanu PF’s favour.

If Zimbabwe was to adopt postal voting, will that not give the MDC formations a good reason to refuse to accept the outcome of the elections?

More so, if the by-elections are to be held under the current lockdown, will the opposition formations not find a good reason to refuse to accept the outcome of these elections?

Predictably, the MDC will cite failure to campaign freely, failure by its members to freely travel to polling stations and early closure of polling stations.

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