Jonathan Moyo Tells CCC That "Serious Opposition Seeks Electoral Reforms Day After Last Election"
Self-exiled Political Science Professor, Jonathan Moyo has told the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa that the party should have sought electoral reforms a day after the 2018 elections if it was “serious.”
Moyo’s remarks come as CCC announced that it will launch its “Electoral Reform Blueprint” on Thursday 29 September 2022 (today), a few months before the harmonised elections scheduled for 2023.
In a series of Twitter messages seen by Pindula News, Moyo said:
As electoral reform experiences around Africa show, serious opposition political players seek meaningful electoral reforms the day after the last election when they have five years to spare; and not the day before the next election, when they have squandered five years!
Seeking electoral reforms when, after participating in the last election, you hibernate; say and do nothing about election reforms only to wake up on the eve of the next election with cacophonic calls for electoral reforms; smacks of political cynicism and gross incompetence!
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Calls for electoral reforms should not be a desperate substitute for an election manifesto based on sound values, ideology, constitution and policy alternatives pursued by a political structure with a demonstrable capacity to govern and improve people’s lives and livelihoods!
Chamisa rejected the outcome of the 2018 presidential election accusing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of conniving with the ruling ZANU PF to manipulate results in favour of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In the months that followed, he declared that he would not participate in the 2023 elections unless requisite electoral reforms have been implemented.
Among other conditions, Chamisa wants the ZEC disbanded saying it has failed to preside over legitimate elections. He also wants media reforms to allow all contestants to have equal air time on state broadcasting radios and television.
The ruling ZANU PF agrees that reforms are of paramount significance if elections were to be credible but notes that “reforms are not to be rushed.”
Early this year, Chamisa suggested that he would engage Mnangagwa on reforms. He said during his party’s rally held after the March 26 by-elections:
We are saying dialogue is important around electoral conditions and the reforms that we would want to see so that we do not have another disputed election.
So even in victory, there has to be dialogue, a pre-election, post-election pact, an agreement on the nature and character of the election that we are going to have so that we agree on what happens to those who are going to win and those who are also going to help the winners.
Some political analysts say ZANU PF will likely win the 2023 general elections if there are no tangible electoral reforms implemented by the government ahead of the crucial polls.
In a research paper presented at a workshop organized by the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute in April 2022, Dr Norman Pinduka of the Africa University said the role played by the Zimbabwe Defence Force would also determine the outcome of the elections.
Meanwhile, Chamisa is confident that he will win the elections whether there are reforms or not.
