The Age of Briefcase Political Parties

The over five million Zimbabweans who registered to vote in the forthcoming general election will be spoilt for choice come Election Day.

Apart from electing a President and 210 National Assembly representatives, voters will also elect into office hundreds of local government representatives.

From a field of candidates, likely to run into thousands, voters will elect candidates from a bloated pool of 110 political parties that have “threatened” to contest the harmonised elections.

To further add to the overblown field are the hundreds of “independent” candidates who are staking a claim to office.

The sheer number of political parties that have expressed interest in this election has baffled many people.

How a country with a population approaching 15 million can have so many political outfits appears bizarre at the least.

Could it be sign of the diversity of political views among Zimbabweans; or could it be a reflection of the openness of the political space in the country?

Does the sheer number of political reflect on democratisation? Or are we living in the Age of Briefcase Political Parties?

To put the matter into context, Nigeria – Africa’s most populous nation, with ten times as many citizens as Zimbabwe – has 68 formally registered political parties. Twenty-two of them were registered in January 2018.

Nigerian law requires political parties to register with the national elections management body (the Independent National Electoral Commission) before being issued a registration certificate after vetting.

South Africa, on the other hand, has a population of over 55 million people and 563 registered political parties, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.

South Africa has slightly similar regulations to those in Nigeria.

In Zimbabwe however, the law does not require the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to register political parties. ZEC simply requires notification of their existence.

As a result, scores of weird political outfits continue to emerge, especially during an election cycle.

Musician Hosiah Chipanga has named his outfit Messiah Apostolic Prophetically Inspired People’s Institution Church (Mapipi).

Apart from the Righteous African Congratulatory party, there is also the absurdly named Kambizi fronted by one Henry Kambizi; and an “indigenised” local version of South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters named the Zimbabwe Economic Freedom Fighters.

And we have to ask ourselves, will the Democratic Opposition Party change its name in the unlikely even it becomes a ruling party?

In the aftermath of a Parliamentary by-election in November 2005, the then Electoral Supervisory Commission noted the absence of laws for registration of political parties, leading to the emergence of fly-by-night organisations.

It recommended formal registration of parties. That has not happened.

It is difficult to understand why so many Zimbabweans are eager to form political parties.

Is it out of a belief that they can genuinely wrestle a parliamentary seat or even the presidency? Is it because they really have something to offer the nation? Is it because the unemployment rate is high and people have time on their hands?

Voters have been harsh on these many parties. Since Independence in 1980, only eight political parties have ever had elected representatives in Parliament: Zanu-PF (previously Zanu and Zapu), the United African National Council, Conservatives Alliance of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Unity Movement, Zanu Ndonga, MDC-T and MDC.

Zimbabwe has had three independent Parliamentarians: Margret Dongo, Jonathan Moyo and Themba Mliswa.

The stats have never deterred politicians. Zimbabwe Election Support Network chairperson Mr Andrew Makoni says the proliferation of “briefcase” political parties will result in administrative challenges.

He says having so many candidates on a ballot paper causes delays in the voting process and could possibly lead to the election extending beyond a day.

“We are talking of 110 political parties against a population of 14 million and a voting population of five million.

“India, for example, with a population of around one billion as at 2009 had only 360 political parties; Nigeria with a very large population has only 68 political parties, and there is already debate there that there is excessive fragmentation.

“I do not believe this will aid our democracy in any way.

“What is means is that Zec will have to fork out a lot of money and it is a nightmare for a voter to find the candidate of their choice on a ballot paper that is loaded.

With elections around the corner, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proposed a roundtable with political party leaders. He has had to put that on hold because of the sheer scale of the logistical problem posed by the number of political actors emerging in Zimbabwe by the day.

He has said, “I thought I would be meeting between 8 and 15 (political parties) so I cancelled the date so that I really find out if it is true that there are 108 political parties in the country. ”

He will have to find a very large table.