Unpacking primary election procedures: ERC

THE IMPACT OF ZIMBABWE’S POLITICAL PARTY CANDIDATE SELECTION PROCEDURES ON DEMOCRACY

Produced by the Election Resource Centre (ERC)

Introduction

Intra-party democracy systems can have positive or negative consequences on national systems depending on the internal policies used by political parties or the political context of the country.

In this paper the ERC mainly focus on intra- party democracy regarding candidate selection in Zimbabwe. The ability of political parties to put in place progressive internal policies that ensure the professional selection of qualified candidates can go a long way in providing leadership that will effectively lead Zimbabwe towards sustainable development.

Though some might argue that too much party democracy may dilute the power held by political party leaders, the benefits of intraparty democracy at a macro level are much greater. Therefore, internal party systems should uphold universally recognised democratic principles, which are, for example, transparency, accountability and participation.

Internal party democracy has a wider impact on national governance. It enhances a necessary democracy culture within political parties that will naturally transcend to the society at large. The representation of the electorate’s ideas starts at a grassroots level and in most cases through political parties, therefore the internal party procedures should be free and fair so as to facilitate the transfer of the electorates’ views and ideas from the grassroots to the national level.

For that reason, the opening up of political parties is essential in that it creates space for new ideas and new members, who will then be part of the national system through national elections, if they are selected as party candidates.

Intra-party democracy has not been in the centre of the international community’s attention, hence there are no concrete global guidelines on internal party politics. However, many scholars have come up with basic principles of intra-party democracy and these are; transparency, professionalism, accountability, electivity, inclusivity, representation and participation.

These are basically democratic principles, which political parties should be encouraged to adhere to.

The major challenge in Zimbabwe is the haphazard selection of political party candidates. The internal party systems and regulations for candidate selection are not precise enough to allow the democratic selection of candidates.

According to Matlosa (2005), a conflict issue within political parties themselves is the lack of intraparty democracy, which in turn leads to some party members deserting the parties and contesting elections as independent candidates.

The applicable electoral laws that govern political parties are mainly the Electoral Amendment Act and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act.

For instance, the Electoral Amendment Act provides that party candidates must be endorsed by the party and bans the use of party symbols by candidates who are not endorsed by their political party. The current COPAC draft constitutional provision on the selection of running mates gives an element of governing internal party politics.

But in other countries internal functioning of political parties is legally regulated. For instance, Kenya has a Political Parties’ Act2 which regulates political parties. It sets out the contents of the constitution or rules of a political party and participation in political activities and rights of party members. Zimbabwe only has a Political Parties’ Finance Act.

However, the ERC commends political parties such as, ZANU PF, MDC-N and MDC-T, for instituting primary elections as a method of selecting candidates. This is in itself a democratic practice because it removes the power from political leaders and transfers it to the people. Primary elections should, nevertheless, be conducted in a free and fair manner.

Candidate selection procedures by Zimbabwe’s political parties

1.
Movement for Democratic Change- Tsvangirai (MDC- T)

There have been media reports that the MDC-T elections directorate sent out a document to all its structures countrywide with guidelines of selecting candidates from local government to legislators.

According to this document, a prospective candidate for any post would have to be a member of the party for at least five years instead of the previous two and should be a registered voter. Article 15. 11(e) of the document is on Election of National and Local Government Candidates.

It states that, “Where more than one candidate has been listed, the National Elections Directorate shall conduct an election among the competing candidates in Wards in respect of Councillors and Districts in respect of Parliament”. All candidates standing for election will be approved by the national council.

The document provides criteria for selection of provincial and local authority representatives. A system of proportional representation will be used, with eligible voters voting for their candidate in their order of preference. Initially two (2) candidates from each district that is a woman and a man shall be elected.

The elected, “must undergo a further election to rank them on the basis of their popularity using the zebra method of woman then man provided that at all material times regard should be made to a fair geographical spread of candidates within the Province”.

(Zebra Method means the election of candidates under a party list system of proportional representation in which female and male candidates are listed alternately with every list being headed by a female candidate.)

On January 10, 2013, The Herald reported that the MDC will not subject sitting legislators to primary elections…and those who fail to garner two thirds majority confirmation by their respective constituencies would go for primary elections.

2.

Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)

ZANU PF leadership is reported to have indicated that they are in the process of developing procedures for the holding of primary elections to select candidates who will stand against other political parties in the harmonised elections scheduled for 2013.

In 2008, ZANU PF primaries were characterised by violence after supporters failed to agree on the procedures of choosing candidates. Similar to the MDC current procedures, ZANU PF selected candidates who would have served the party for more than five years.

It is yet to be determined if this criteria will still stand in the new procedure, given the emergence of new conflict between the young turks, who have been party members for less than five years, and the old guard.

3.
Movement for Democratic Change – Ncube (MDC- N)

It is reported that the MDC-N requests for nominations and the aspiring candidates submit applications which are vetted to see whether they meet the party requirements. Primary elections are then held to select a candidate in cases where there are more than one aspiring candidates per constituency.

4.
The Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU).

The Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) is reported to have an Election Committee which consists of 10 members, who represent each province in Zimbabwe. For an individual to be selected as a candidate, the party calls for CV’s which are evaluated by the Election Committee.

The election Committee also conducts a background check on the potential candidates to see whether they meet the party requirements.

Major effects of failed internal party democracy

1.
Imposition of candidates

The ZANU PF, MDC- T and MDC-N primary elections will probably be held early 2013. The fear is that the candidacy of the next elections will be botched because they are already certain individuals that have been targeted for nominations.

There will most likely be impositions of candidates by over domineering elites. The imposition of candidates is exacerbated by the culture of clientelism that has perverted internal party politics. Therefore, this may lead to voter apathy since the party would have failed to give the candidates who are preferred by the electorate.

2.
Disturbance of Democratic Stability

Primary elections are generally divisive and have, in the past, led to intra party conflicts. The possible forthcoming primary elections will serve as a barometer to measure the possibility of the recurrence of political violence in the 2013 national election.

If the selection of candidates is not managed well, there is a possibility of intra party violence going beyond internal violence. If the selection of candidates is contested there are more chances that the harmonised elections will be highly contested.

Already in some areas in the Mashonaland provinces, violence has erupted with some aspiring candidates accusing the old seat holders of using dirty tactics to retain their seats.

3.
Loss of political support of the party

Internal democratic procedures, which lack the adherence to true democratic principles, have led to the split and crises within political parties. For instance the MDC has split into four parties since 2005 and ZANU PF internal politics is marred by factionalism. This has been caused by disgruntled party supporters.

When a candidate loses the primary elections, legally, there is a chance for them to stand as an independent candidate. Consequently, this will probably lead to the splitting of the party’s votes and the lack of confidence of the electorate in the political systems.

Recommendations

•
Need for more open candidate selection methods which will illustrate the appointment to the candidate selection system for primary election candidacy
•
Coming up with democratic internal legal frameworks
•
Coming up with a national legal framework that can influence political parties’ discretionary power in proposing candidates.
•
Party regulation and procedures that allow for citizen participation in the candidate selection procedure
•
An objective candidate selection procedure that ensures the selection of competent candidates who would have been endorsed by their constituencies.
•
The candidate selection procedures to be transparent and accountable

Produced by the Election Resource Centre (ERC)