#ElectionsZW: Various reasons contribute to low voter turnout in by-elections
By Gracious Nyathi
Voter participation in Zimbabwe has not always been this lousy. The country recently held by-elections to fill vacant parliamentary and local authority seats on the 26th of March.
According to the results, the initial turnout was very low.
The vacancies were a result of opposition disputes over control of the MDC-T, as well as Zanu PF factional fights which resulted in the recalling of councillors and legislators.
Other seats became vacant due to the death of officeholders.
On their Twitter page, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) indicated that the total voter turnout was a dismal 35%. Further consolidating the plunging voter numbers in the previous years.
The newly established Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) dominated the by-elections that sought to fill 28 National Assembly seats and about 122 council seats.
CCC broke away with 19 Parliament seats, while Zanu PF got 9 (nine). For council seats, CCC won 75 and Zanu PF 47.
‘’The exhibited voter apathy is a result of citizens, lack of identity documentation, lack of trust in ZEC, and general fear of political participation. The people are tired of the recurrent political shenanigans,’’ said Margaret Torima (34) of Masvingo.
‘’I would have voted, had I been home, but I can’t afford to book a flight for a single day, in the middle of the year, to come home and vote. Besides I don’t earn much, my rent is expensive here but at least I’m employed. That’s why we are only vocal on Twitter and not on the ballot, we are not home,’’ said the United Kingdom-based Samuel Vundla in an interview with Open Parly.
This serves as one of the justifications for why there is high political participation online and yet low numbers in the ballot boxes or polling stations.
According to Chris Nyathi, he was registered in the wrong ward by ZEC and when he tried to rectify it he was turned away. Nyathi added that when he went to vote in the ward where he had been registered, he was told that it was not his ward.
Voter education is one of the most influential factors in any election, but it is not being effectively provided. ZEC is reluctant to allow as many organisations as possible to provide voter education.
In cases where they have allowed civic society organisations, they first demand to vet the material and the process can take forever. In Binga, residents complain about ZEC posters being written in Ndebele and English. Of course, they are in Matabeleland, but they are Tonga people and some do not relate to some of those languages.
#ElectionsZW: Various reasons contribute to low voter turnout in by-elections
