VZCZCXRO1288
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0226/01 0811021
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211021Z MAR 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2615
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1884
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1827
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1951
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0530
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1228
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1585
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2007
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4438
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1078
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000226 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR S.HILL 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B.PITTMAN 
TREASURY FOR J.RALYEA AND T.RAND 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND E.LOKEN 
COMMERCE FOR BECKY ERKUL 
CIA WASHDC 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ASEC ZI
SUBJECT:  ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION AVOIDS TOUGH QUESTIONS 
 
 
-------- 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
¶1. (U) The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on March 18 gave a 
three-hour briefing to stakeholders on the mechanics of the election 
process.  The commission, however, left unanswered key questions on 
the role of the police, bias in the media, and presence of police in 
polling stations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------- 
ZEC Shows Signs of Bias 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) dodged many of the 
important questions concerning Zimbabwe's harmonized 29 March 
elections in a three-hour public briefing held on 18 March. 
Addressing an apparent contradiction in the Electoral Act, the ZEC 
declined to give an opinion on whether the law required a runoff if 
no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote.  The ZEC 
also did not address concerns about President Mugabe's amendment 
this week to the Electoral Act permitting the presence of police 
officers in polling stations.  Finally, the ZEC refused to answer 
questions about statements of the head of the Defense Force and the 
Prison Chief that they would not serve under anyone but President 
Mugabe. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Although ZEC's presidentially-appointed chairman tried to 
maintain an appearance of impartiality throughout the briefing, he 
repeatedly questioned the affiliation of a MDC-Tsvangarai audience 
member and occasionally stated he did not understand the concerns of 
audience members about the role of the police and the ability of 
political party agents and observers to adequately monitor election 
procedures.  The ZEC chairman stated that the commission had to 
balance the interests of political parties in seeking to play an 
oversight role with the commission's interest in a smooth election 
process.  The commission also dismissed concerns about the 
objectivity of news media coverage of the election and access of the 
opposition to the media. 
 
-------------------- 
Election Mechanics 
-------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The ZEC stated the ballot papers will be white for the 
presidential election, green for the senatorial election, blue for 
the House of Assembly and yellow for the local government election 
with a correspondingly colored ballot box for each election.  The 
ZEC chairman emphasized that voters had to cast their ballots in 
their wards and "nowhere else". Per the SADC guidelines, voting 
would be held on one day, March 29, from 7 am to 7 pm. Everyone who 
was in line by 7 pm would be able to vote, assuming they were 
eligible. There are now 5.9 million registered voters; 300,000 
additional voters were added to the rolls during the two-week voter 
registration period in February. 
 
¶5. (U) The ZEC said it had identified 8998 polling stations, and 
confirmed press reports there will be composite polling stations 
(multiple voting stations within the polling station) in urban areas 
to accommodate the larger numbers of voters per polling station, but 
refused to give any details about them.  The ZEC deferred to the 
Chief Elections Officer to formally clarify the locations and 
logistics of the composite polling stations at a later date.  The 
ZEC has plans to deploy 90,000 polling officers and still has to 
recruit and train them.  The polling officers will be recruited from 
government ministries and departments, parastatals, local 
authorities, and health services officials. 
 
 
HARARE 00000226  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (U) The votes for the presidential election from each ward will 
be transmitted to a constituency tabulation center, then to the 
provincial tabulation center, and finally to the national command 
center where the winner will be announced. The ZEC said there would 
be no observers or representatives from political parties at the 
national command center because no voting or vote counting would 
take place there. 
 
--------------------------------- 
The role of the security services 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) According to the ZEC, the Zimbabwe Defense Force (ZDF), 
the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), and the Air Force are among a 
number of government ministries and parastatals who will assist with 
election logistics, although how they will assist was not discussed. 
 According to the ZEC, only the ZRP submitted a nominal roll for 
postal balloting. However, other applications for a postal ballot 
could still be coming through the mail. The ZEC confirmed that 
postal ballot voting can be monitored by the political parties.  The 
postal ballot boxes will be declared empty and sealed at the ZEC 
head office.  (NOTE: There are up to 200,000 people, including 
military, police, diplomats overseas and individuals involved in 
administering and monitoring the elections, who are eligible to use 
a postal ballot; thus, it is likely that the number of postal 
ballots will rise before the election.) 
 
------------------------------- 
Will the Election Turn Violent? 
------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Indicating the level of concern about post-election violence 
in Zimbabwe, one of the first questions asked was how the ZEC was 
preparing voters to avoid Kenyan-style violence.  The ZEC discounted 
the potential for Kenyan style post-election violence, saying that 
Zimbabweans did not have the same composition of ethnic groups as 
Kenya and that Zimbabweans were "mature" 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The ZEC is generally considered a tool of the government 
and its responses at the briefing did little to inspire confidence 
in its ability to fairly oversee the election.  With a compromised 
ZEC, the role of observers, particularly ZESN, becomes even more 
important.  We are particularly concerned that, although there will 
be observers at the polling stations where counting occurs, 
observers will apparently not be present at tabulation centers and 
the national command center in Harare which will announce 
presidential results. 
 
MCGEE