ITUC Statement on Elections in Zimbabwe on 31 July 2013

On July 31, 2013, general elections were held in Zimbabwe under the nation’s new constitution. The presidential race was again largely a runoff between the incumbent, Robert Mugabe (ZANU-PF), president since 1987, and Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC), who had previously challenged Mugabe in 2008.

ZANU-PF has already declared victory in an election that, while free of the alarming levels of violence witnessed in 2008 elections, was plagued with several flaws and irregularities that cast serious doubt on the fairness of the election and thus its outcome.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN), who deployed 1,000 election monitors before, during and after the elections, made the following observations that call into question the credibility of the elections:

- Repressive legislation: The Public Order and Security Act, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Broadcasting Services Act remained in place and curtailed the right to freedom of association, assembly and information during the elections.
- Biased media: The media, largely state-controlled, openly campaigned for the ZANU-PF and used hate speech against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe recorded 26 cases of hate speech against opposition parties which remained unpunished.
- Voters’ roll: The Zimbabwe Electoral Act prescribes that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission shall publish the voters’ roll within a reasonable period of time (Art.21 (4)). Not only was the voters’ roll released only one day before the elections, but it was also inaccurate and distorted by duplicate entries and false and missing registrations leading to the disenfranchisement of about a million voters, mostly in urban areas.
- “Assisted voters”: A high number of voters were “assisted” by their village heads during voting. It is questionable whether these voters really did not know how to vote or whether this was an intimidation strategy.
- Fake voter registration slips: There were several reports of arrests of people with fake voter registration slips throughout the country. Police arrested 20 ZANU-PF supporters for issuing fake voter registration.

“The Zimbabwean elections failed to comply with international elections standards,” stated Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). “All allegations by voters and election observers should be fully and independently investigated. The international community should refrain from recognising the election results before the Constitutional Court has resolved allegations of election fraud.”