ZIMBABWE

ELECTIONS EN 2005

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Chamber:

House of Assembly

Dates of election / renewal (from/to):

31 March 2005

Purpose of elections:

Elections were held for all the directly elected seats in the House of Assembly on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.

Background and outcome of elections:

In the last parliamentary elections in June 2000, the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), won almost as many elected seats as the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) by securing 57 against 62 seats. Nevertheless, President Robert Mugabe's control of the indirectly elected seats ensured that power remained firmly in the hands of ZANU-PF.

Approximately 5.7 million Zimbabweans of the country's 12 million inhabitants were registered to vote. The Constitution does not provide the right for Zimbabweans living abroad to vote, with the exception of diplomats and member of the armed forces. A request to allow some 3.4 million Zimbabweans living overseas to participate in the elections was turned down by the Zimbabwean Supreme Court on 17 March.

The elections were seen as the first test of Zimbabwe's 2004 electoral reforms, introduced in an attempt to comply with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) election code, entitled Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. The code seeks to ensure compliance with internationally accepted norms such as political tolerance, freedom of association, equal access to State media, independence of the judiciary and electoral institutions.

A national electoral commission and the new electoral court were created after preparations for the poll had begun purportedly to ensure independence of the electoral and judiciary institutions, as stipulated in the SADC's code. However, the only daily newspaper critical of the government was closed down before the elections. The number of seats in the MDC strongholds of Harare and Bulawayo were reduced, while additional seats were created in rural areas, where support for ZANU-PF is strongest.

Before the election, ZANU-PF had proposed amendments to the Constitution which would require a two-thirds majority in the new parliament to be adopted, including the creation of an upper house and the post of a powerful prime minister. Although the MDC had threatened to boycott the elections, the party reluctantly decided to participate in an attempt to block the constitutional amendments.

The electoral campaign was dominated by the controversial programme of seizing land from white farmers for redistribution to poor blacks and the restoration of the economy. President Mugabe accused the MDC of being a stooge of Western countries, calling for an "anti-Blair election" in reference to the British Prime Minister. On the other hand, the MDC's leader, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, argued that his party would carry out land reform in a more systematic way than ZANU-PF in order to restore economic growth.

Whether the elections would be free and fair attracted much international attention. Only observers from countries and institutions which had not criticized the two previous elections were invited to monitor the 2005 elections, including 11 countries from Africa, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Iran and the Russian Federation. South Africa sent the largest contingent of observers. Observers were also invited from the SADC, but none from the SADC Parliamentary Forum. Neither the European Union nor the Commonwealth were invited. The number of local monitors was also reduced compared to previous elections. Nevertheless, a total of over 7,000 observers monitored the elections.

The elections passed off in relative peace. Both the government and opposition parties agreed that there were fewer violent incidents than during the 2000 elections. The head of South Africa's observers also reported relatively smooth progress in the voting process but he added that his observers had had to step in to prevent political clashes.

The SADC observer mission said that the elections "reflected the will of the people". The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, held a more conservative view. Although he agreed that the elections went off peacefully, Mr. Annan said he was concerned about the fairness of the vote and called on both the ruling party and the opposition to hold a constructive dialogue to "build a climate of confidence" in the country. African Union observers called for investigations into conflicting voting figures.

Turnout was recorded at 47.66 per cent, slightly lower than the 49.32 per cent recorded in the 2000 elections. Of the 120 elected seats, President Mugabe's ZANU-PF won 78 seats, up from 62 in the 2000 election. Together with the 30 indirectly elected members, ZANU-PF, therefore, secured the necessary two-thirds of seats it needed to amend the constitution. On the other hand, MDC only managed to obtain 41 seats, down from 57.
Mr. Jonathan Moyo, the former information minister who had been fired by President Mugabe ran as an independent and was elected. The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU-Ndonga) failed to win a seat. The outgoing Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, regarded as a ZANU-PF heavyweight, did not win any seat but was appointed to parliament by the President.

MDC spokesperson, Paul Themba Nyathi, insisted that there had been massive electoral fraud in at least 30 of the seats won by the ruling party. MDC shadow justice minister, David Coltart, told the local press that in 76 constituencies the total votes cast according to the election commission did not tally with the total number of ballots counted by the same commission. The MDC said the official results indicated 183,000 more votes than the electoral commission said were cast. MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, said that his party would use alternative means to the courts to press for a review of the election results since, according to him, the local High Court was filled with pro-ZANU-PF judges, who had failed to resolve his party's petitions concerning the 2000 elections.

The new Parliament was sworn in on 12 April and Mr. John Nkomo was elected as the new Speaker.

STATISTICS


Round no 1 (31 March 2005): Election results
Number of registered electors		5'658'624
Voters		2'696'670 (47.66%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers		62'025
Valid votes		2'634'645



Round no 1: Distribution of votes

Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
ZANU-PF		1'569'867	59.59
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)		1'041'292	39.52
Independents		16'878	0.64
ZANU (Ndonga)		6'608	0.25


Round no 1: Distribution of seats

Political Group	Total	Gain/Loss
ZANU-PF	78	16
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)	41	-16
Independents	1	0
ZANU (Ndonga)	0

Comments:

The statistics above concerns 120 members directly elected. (12.04.2005)

Of 25 women in all, 20 were directly elected, five were appointed. (IPU Group, 25.07.2005)
Ms. Edna Madzongwe was appointed as Speaker of the Senate on 30 November 2005, making the total number of women to 24 (Public Relations Office of the Parliament, 08.12.2005).

Distribution of seats according to sex:

Men:

125

Women:

Percent of women:

16.67

Distribution of seats according to age:

Distribution of seats according to profession:

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