Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson, Justice Priscilla Makanyara Chigumba, has called for the mandatory registration of political parties to prevent a recurrence of issues experienced during the 2023 harmonised elections.
In the run-up to the polls, electoral courts were inundated with a high volume of cases where candidates challenged the rejection of their nomination papers.
Chigumba stated that the Electoral Act should be amended to make it compulsory for all political parties to be formally registered with the authorities.
Alternatively, Chigumba suggested that there should be a cap on the timeframe within which candidates can appeal their candidature before elections, even in the absence of a party registration requirement.
The ZEC chairperson made these comments during a joint induction workshop of the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee and the Thematic Committee on Human Rights, which was held in Bulawayo over the weekend. She said (via The Herald):
To solve the chaos around the nomination process, I made two recommendations: to register political parties or give time limits on electoral court challenges.
This means the electoral court will not accept any court challenges 30 days before election day.
The problem in Zimbabwe, as part of the electoral law, is that we have no legislation on the registration of political parties.
What we have are individuals notifying ZEC that they have established a political party and requesting to be added to the database.
Chigumba argued that the lack of mandatory political party registration in Zimbabwe has led to a concerning lack of accountability.
She explained that when individuals make decisions on behalf of a political grouping, there is no clear entity that can be held responsible.
In contrast, Chigumba noted that in many other countries, political parties are required to register, similar to how companies are registered.
This, she said, makes these political entities more accountable, as they risk being deregistered if they fail to adhere to the necessary regulations and standards. Said Chugumba:
There is no political will to register political parties. It is only at the Nomination Court where ZEC has an opportunity to legally engage political parties.
During the Nomination Court process, you find a lot of chaos around the nomination procedure because this is where candidates comply with laid-down procedures.
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