Statement by the MDC regarding the Voter registration exercise

Statement by the MDC regarding the announcement made by the Registrar of Voters that the Voter registration exercise mandated by the Section 6(3) of the Constitution will commence on Monday the 10th June 2013.

Were it not for its desperately serious consequences the Constitutional crisis regarding the deadline of the 31st July for the election set by the Constitutional Court would be a farce.

Today’s Herald contains the following quote:

“The Registrar of Voters wishes to inform the public that there will be a national mobile registration exercise,” he said. “This exercise will commence on Monday 10 June 2013 to 9 July 2013.”

In addition the Registrar Mr Mudede “urged aspiring voters to bring relevant documents to enable them to register and vote.”

Accordingly we now know that the voters registration exercise ends on the 9th July 2013. It is therefore trite that we cannot have a voters roll which has been finalised and which contains everyone’s names on it prior to the 9th July 2013. Furthermore it will be well nigh impossible for the final voters roll to be ready instantly because clearly there will be the considerable task of the final inputting of names and the cleaning of the roll prior to it being ready which must take a few days at least.

But let us assume that the roll will be instantly ready on the 10th July. That is the moment when we will be ready to hold the nomination courts countrywide. However as all who have been involved in a Zimbabwean election know one has to get the supporting nominations of at least 10 voters whose NAMES ARE ON THE ROLL to sign nomination papers. This is often a difficult exercise especially in rural areas where long distances have to be covered to get signatures. That is why Section 157 (3) of the new Constitution states that there needs to be a minimum of 14 days between the proclamation of an election and the nomination day – that timing is designed to give candidates enough time to get their papers ready. Accordingly candidates need a period to prepare their nomination papers if the election is to be credible. Whilst in theory and in law there can be an overlap between the voter registration exercise and the run up to the nomination court two things are clear: 1. one cannot have the nomination day prior to the conclusion of the voter registration exercise and 2. if the nomination day is held immediately after the production of the final voters roll many candidates, especially those in rural areas, will be gravely prejudiced because they will have insufficient time to get their papers in order.

In essence, if we are to follow a logical, fair and reasonable approach, time must be given between the time of the production of the final voters roll and the nomination day. Some will argue that our existing law and practice allows for registration up to 24 hours prior to the nomination court and that is right. However the difference between this election and previous elections is that in the past it has been assumed that the voters roll is pretty much up to date and in order whereas in this election we have a voters roll which the ZEC said as late as yesterday is in “a shambles” but more importantly because we have a new and unique Constitutionally mandated period of “intensive voter registration” to enable the tens of thousands of new voters to be registered. As mentioned above section 157(3) of the Constitution sates that there should be at least 14 days between proclamation and the nomination day and that is the reasonable period which should be given between the production of the voters roll and the nomination day. If that logic were to be applied it would mean that the nomination day should be on approximately the 24th July, with the election following 30 days later on the23rd August.

However given our current helter-skelter approach to the electoral process let us assume that the nomination courts will sit immediately after the final voters roll has been produced on say the 10th July. That is when the other aspect of section 157(3) of the Constitution applies – namely the provision that there needs to be a period of at least 30 days between the nomination court date and the election itself. In short it means that given Mr Mudede’s statement yesterday the election cannot under any circumstances be held lawfully and in compliance with the Constitution before the 9th August 2013.

In this regard it is amazing to see so many luminaries including some church leaders blindly stating that the Constitutional Court order must be followed come what may. Our fundamental obligation must be to comply with the Constitution and the electoral processes, a point the Chief Justice himself made in his judgement when he said “The Court, in my view, is compelled to take into account the exigencies of this situation in the order that it makes. Thus compliance with the Court order must not of necessity compel the first Respondent (ie the President) to contravene another electoral provision.”

In other words the only way out of this Constitutional quagmire is for us to go back to the Constitutional Court to present to the Court evidence of the new and current “exigencies of the situation” to get a fresh court order which will able us not to be in “contravention of other electoral provisions” and indeed the Constitution itself.

Senator David Coltart,

Secretary for Legal Affairs

MDC