A Zim Holiday
Well, this one provides a cynicism test: Robert Mugabe has declared March 29, the country’s election day, to be a public holiday. Now, ordinarily speaking, I believe that anything that makes voting easier and more accessible to the most people is a good thing. And yet Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe is far from ordinary, and other extraordinary circumstances in which I anticipate an election being taken, stolen, or simply massaged into the President’s corner, I tend to grow cynical. March 29 is, after all, a Saturday, which does not eliminate but ought to ameliorate the burdens faced by the masses of workers. And then look more closely:
“President Mugabe also promulgated the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of Electoral Act) (No. 2) Regulations, 2008, which would now permit police officers to enter polling stations.”
Now we are getting to the heart of the matter. The police in a police state (in any state, really) have no business entering polling stations barring some sort of criminal activity. Presumably, after all, in putatively democratic Zimbabwe there was a reason why police officers were required to remain 100 metres from where voting occurred. Not now. Mugabe is worried, and this is about as naked an opportunity for intimidation as one can imagine. One cannot help but wonder if allowing the presence of the military, senior members of which have not been especially subtle in their support of Mugabe, in to polling places is not far behind.
Furthermore:
”Section 59 of the Electoral Act has also been amended under the regulations and will permit two electoral officers or employees of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and a police officer on duty to assist illiterate voters.
The same applies to Section 60 of the Act under which two electoral officials and a police officer on duty would assist physically incapacitated voters, the Herald said.”
Again — under ordinary circumstances wouldn’t one want illiterate and physically incapacitated voters to have the opportunity to cast a vote with full cognizance of what they are doing? Of course. But then why was it necessary to amend the law now? What provisions were in place before these amendments to protect the rights of those with difficulty reading or physical limitations but that still protected the integrity of the vote without inviting rampant coercion? I do not trust Mugabe, I do not trust his minions, and I do not trust the hired henchmen. And this distrust is the direct product of Mugabe’s behavior for well more than a decade.