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Posted on 03/05/2002 10:08:56 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Recent amendments to the election law forbid civic and religious organizations from monitoring the poll and from running voter education campaigns.
Military officers have been appointed to the election directorate, and only civil servants -- dependent on government jobs -- will be allowed to monitor the vote.
Seals will no longer be placed around the whole ballot box when it is moved to the counting station, but only around the opening. Since the new law allows the ballots to be transported in the absence of party representatives, many fear the boxes can be disassembled in transit.
"That gives the ruling party ample opportunity to stuff the ballot box. If that is not the case, why introduce such a law anyway?" asked Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The political violence in Zimbabwe and new security and election laws have made it nearly impossible for this weekend's presidential vote to be free and fair, human rights groups and foreign officials say.
About 150 people have been killed, thousands tortured and at least 70,000 rendered homeless in political attacks in the past two years, according to the Human Rights Forum, a consortium of Zimbabwe rights groups.
The ruling party of President Robert Mugabe, the police and the military were behind more than 90 percent of those attacks, but attacks by opposition supporters are increasing, the forum said.
"The campaign of repression orchestrated by the government of Zimbabwe has gone on for too long, and it has been too profound and too pervasive, to allow for an untainted election," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner told Congress last week.
The Human Rights Forum also said the ruling party has set up at least 22 militia bases around Zimbabwe where militants torture supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and gather for attacks on opposition strongholds.
Opposition campaigners have complained that much of the countryside is now off-limits to them.
The violence is so widespread "the no-go area is called Zimbabwe," said Tony Reeler of the human rights group The Amani Trust in Zimbabwe.
When the opposition tried to hold a rally Friday in Marondera, 45 miles east of Harare, ruling party militants hurled burning tires at some of them and assaulted others, opposition officials said. Police did not intervene, the opposition leaders said.
Police have used new security laws to ban 77 opposition rallies as "threats to the public safety," opposition officials said. There have been no reported cases of ruling party rallies being banned, even after a march by 10,000 people ended with an attack on the opposition headquarters.
On Monday, police broke up a meeting between foreign diplomats and opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, saying it was an illegal political gathering. They entered the room, took Tsvangirai out and told him the session must end immediately.
Authorities last week charged Tsvangirai with treason for allegedly plotting to have Mugabe assassinated. He denied the charge.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called the situation in Zimbabwe "an outrage in terms of democracy." And the European Union said Zimbabwe's restrictive election framework "contradicts the international standards for free and fair elections."
Zimbabwe's government has denied any connection to the violence, saying it is "committed to the holding of free and fair elections."
New laws passed by the ruling-party dominated Parliament have raised concerns about the integrity of the election.
Recent amendments to the election law forbid civic and religious organizations from monitoring the poll and from running voter education campaigns.
Military officers have been appointed to the election directorate, and only civil servants -- dependent on government jobs -- will be allowed to monitor the vote.
Seals will no longer be placed around the whole ballot box when it is moved to the counting station, but only around the opening. Since the new law allows the ballots to be transported in the absence of party representatives, many fear the boxes can be disassembled in transit.
"That gives the ruling party ample opportunity to stuff the ballot box. If that is not the case, why introduce such a law anyway?" asked Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe.
The Supreme Court last week struck down some of the new election laws. The government reinstated them Tuesday with a presidential decree.
State-run television and radio stations, the main news source for most Zimbabweans, have given glowing coverage to Mugabe's campaign and called Tsvangirai a terrorist, an assassin and a servant of white interests.
The government also has refused to allow some foreign journalists, whose coverage it considers unfavorable, to cover the election.
"If the newspaper report is true, the soldiers and police officers in question should come forward and identify themselves," Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede said in remarks broadcast on state television.
Mudede said 5.5 million Zimbabweans were registered to vote at 4,000 polling stations around the country. Tsvangirai has repeatedly urged supporters to flood the polls, saying a large turnout would make it difficult for ZANU-PF to fix the election. [End Excerpt]
Gee, ya' think, tony?
Mugabe needs to be hammered hard but nothing will be done for now.
I pity the poor folks who have to live under his tyrrany.
As of 3/5/02 9:49 PM Central we have $3,672.45 in donations from Never Never Land. Starting tomorrow, March 6, 2002, from 6:00 PM Central, to March 7, 2002, 11:59 PM Central,
(I have to keep track, so I get to choose the time zone)
the state which contributes the most to Free Republic during this time period will get to add Never Never Land's total to their own state.
All he can do is protest. The African Commonwealth countries are backing Mugabe in the face of this blatant stolen election.
Divided we stand, united we fail: leaders' rift is a gift to Mugabe -By Ed O'Loughlin, Herald Correspondent in Zimbabwe [Full Text] While the Commonwealth is split over what to do about Zimbabwe, it appears Zimbabwe is starkly divided over the Commonwealth.
For President Robert Mugabe's government the rift between CHOGM's predominantly black and predominantly white member states on the subject of his country is a propaganda victory.
As this weekend's presidential election draws nearer, Mr Mugabe's government is stepping up efforts to portray itself as the innocent victim of a racist neo-colonial plot to reconquer Zimbabwe's 13 million blacks and put the 70,000 white "settlers" back in charge.
Australia has come in for its share of the attack. An official election pullout in Zimbabwe's state newspapers last weekend included a cartoon of a white man, labelled Australia, standing on the back of a naked black man, labelled Aborigine.
Mr Mugabe's critics have been scathing of the Commonwealth's decision to defer action and of the views of its African leaders.
The Catholic Archbishop of Matabeleland, Dr Pius Ncube, said: "The African [Commonwealth] countries ... have gone ethnic. Just because Mugabe is a fellow African they'll support him.
The logic is emotional, not rational." [End]
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The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and foreign critics led by former colonial power Britain and the United States, accuse President Robert Mugabe, 78, of trying to rig the vote to beat the biggest challenge to his 22-year rule.
At a briefing for foreign election observers and the media the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) gave out scant information. It could not say how many ballot papers had been printed, the exact location of 4,548 polling stations or when voters lists would be made public.
Nor could ESC chairman Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, a retired army colonel, and his officials say why only 23 local observers had been accredited out of 12,000 nominees.
"I have a problem. I don't think as the supervisor of an election that is only a couple of days away you can tell people 'I don't know,"' said observer Martha Sayed of Botswana's Independent Electoral Commission.[End Excerpt]
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