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The Game is on!
Last week the government announced that the Parliamentary elections
would be
held on the 31st March 2005. That gives us 8 weeks to campaign and do
all
the things we have to do to compete effectively in the electoral
process.
Not long. Fortunately we have in fact been hard at work on election
preparedness for several months and we were able to convene the
National
Executive and the Council of the MDC within 48 hours and to decide -
after
several hours of debate, to run in the election and then the following
day,
to confirm 110 candidates out of a required 120 while ordering the
re-run of
10 primaries where we were not satisfied with the procedures followed.
On the 12th February we will launch our campaign in Masvingo and on the
same
day release our Party Manifesto and introduce our candidates. They will
then
be submitted to the Nomination Courts on the 18th February for
approval. In
the meantime our candidates - most of them, have already been in the
field
for some weeks campaigning quietly under the noses of the powers that
be!
There were some moving testimonies - three white farmers have been
selected
by their districts to run as candidates - Roy Bennett has been
confirmed
despite his incarceration by Parliament. Ian Kay - well known Marondera
farmer who was nearly beaten to death in the last campaign and whose
great
friend Dave Stevens was in fact killed, won his primary by two thirds
majority. Threatened with death if he campaigned in the high-density
townships of Marondera, Ian went straight in and has been campaigning
on the
ground for some time. Alan McCormack has gone back into Garuve and was
elected overwhelmingly by his District.
In the Mount Darwin district - a so called "no go area" for the MDC
where we
have not been able to hold a meeting or canvas our structures for 4
years,
over 180 delegates from the district ward committees walked out of the
bush
to attend the primaries - ordinary peasant farmers. They were
supporting the
opposition on principle and voting with their lives on the line.
Who said that Africans do not care about principle or democracy? If you
want
to see solid evidence of just that - attend any MDC function and watch
the
disciplined, non-violent, commitment to democratic principles and human
rights. We are not a Party of intellectuals or the rich - you will see
few
vehicles at our rallies, just thousands or ordinary, hard working
people who
live simple lives. For me this is one of the most inspiring aspects of
the
MDC.
Will the elections be free and fair? Of course not - we have not had
any
time on any of the State media for nearly three years, only hostile
propaganda against us poured out 24 hours a day. All our meetings are
monitored and most are banned by the Police on one pretext or another.
In
the Honde valley our candidate - a single mother, has had 10 out of 11
meetings banned in the past few days. She reported that the regional
governor has told local traditional leaders that the MDC will not be
allowed
to campaign in that District.
Our security agencies and the military will run the election - the new
Election Commission (brought into being in response to the SADC
pressure!)
has yet to be given an office or staff - our letters to them are hand
delivered to their homes. Yet they are on paper, responsible for the
voter's
roll (closed yesterday) and the actual voting procedures and the
administration of the poll itself. Huge responsibilities in an election
with
millions of voters and 12000 polling stations. It is a sick joke.
Zanu has been planning the election for two years. They think they have
it
sown up - the opposition cowed, the people confused and the process
totally
in their hands. They were so confident 6 months ago that we had
information
from inside Zanu PF that they were actually debating how many seats to
allow
the MDC and which ones!
Now the battle is on. MDC is in fact better prepared for these
elections
than Zanu PF - we already have a manifesto which is coherent and well
thought through on all issues, we have over 90 per cent of our
candidates
appointed and running. We have been campaigning quietly on the ground
throughout the country for some time. We do not have any money - but we
have
no debt and what we get in now will go to the coalface. Zanu PF on the
other
hand has no candidates in many districts and is heavily in debt. They
are
deeply divided on many issues and the bruising primaries have sapped
support. Thousands of traditional Zanu PF supporters - including many
who
have become wealthy on the back of Zanu patronage, are disaffected.
Morgan Tsvangirai said this week "this election will be won or lost on
technical issues". He is right - if we had a free and fair election in
which
people were free to make up their own minds and could vote freely for
the
party of their choice, it would be no contest. MDC would win. But it is
not
going to be like that and every aspect of this election is flawed. Even
the
modifications introduced in response to the SADC protocols make this
election flawed - for example, no mobile voting stations - instead we
have
12000 polling stations - how on earth do we supervise that vast spread
and
remember the vote is counted at the polling stations this time. Fine,
if we
have observers and polling agents - but we have no assurance that they
will
be allowed and on past experience, they will be barred from the
process.
In 2000 Vice President Muzenda (since deceased) said, "If we (Zanu PF)
put
up a baboon as a candidate, you must vote for them". Well we will see
if
this is the case this time! We have done all we can to ensure that the
people have a choice. I think we have a chance - but we need help to
make it
happen.
MDC needs - a great deal of money to campaign, to catch up in the media
when
we finally are allowed space, to organise on the ground so that every
polling station is covered by trained and dedicated polling agents. We
need
volunteers to man our campaign offices, to run errands and to do the
million
and one things that must be done. In addition we are asking
specifically for
volunteers to provide vehicles, drivers and fuel and food for polling
day.
These will be used to deploy polling agents on the day before polling,
to
then supervise the poll at up to 5 polling stations and then
co-ordinate the
results from counting that night for relay to national headquarters.
Why not
take three days leave and come and have some fun on the ground with us
- and
in the process make sure that this time, the result is not stolen from
the
people.
E G Cross
Bulawayo, 5th February 2005
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