Zimbabwe Drafting New Election Laws

 

By Peta Thornycroft
 
Early next week, election officials from the Southern African Development Community meet in Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls to put final touches on new principles for elections in the region. The principles are expected to be adopted at a regional summit in Mauritius next month. The meeting comes as Zimbabwe itself is preparing for parliamentary elections next year, amid pressure for reform.

Zimbabwe's legal draftsmen are crafting new laws to be presented to parliament when it resumes later this month, in its final session before general elections next March.

The new laws emerge from decisions made by the ruling Zanu PF party's highest decision making body, the politburo, last month.

President Robert Mugabe is under pressure from neighboring countries to reform Zimbabwe's electoral laws to bring them into line with the principles expected to be approved at the Mauritius summit.

The Southern African Development Community's principles on elections, to be discussed in Victoria Falls ahead of the summit, are similar to those that have been demanded by Zimbabwe's civil rights organization and the opposition¹ Movement for Democratic Change.

They call for political tolerance², freedom of association, the independence of the judiciary and the impartiality³ of electoral institutions.

Most foreign observer groups that monitored Zimbabwe's disputed presidential election in 2002 said none of those conditions prevailed at that time.

Recently, the African Union broke with tradition and compiled a report criticizing Zimbabwe's recent human rights record. Although the report was not adopted by the AU summit this month, it was given wide publicity⁴ in the region. The Zimbabwe government has reacted angrily to the criticism from other African countries.

Some countries in the region have begun to pressure President Mugabe to reform electoral laws, which at present he can and does change himself without parliamentary approval.

Political analysts⁵ say that the ruling Zanu PF is fully⁶ confident it can win the next general election, but that it needs to get the international community, particularly African countries, to endorse⁷ the voting as free and fair. Next week's meeting in Victoria Falls will begin to provide a framework for that.

Peta Thornycroft, VOA News, Harare.

注释：
Southern African Development Community 南部非洲发展共同体
adopt 采用
Mauritius 毛里求斯
Zanu PF 津巴布韦非洲民族联盟
politburo 政治局
opposition Movement for Democratic Change 反对党民主改革运动
judiciary 司法部
impartiality 公平，公正
compile 搜集
publicity 公开

 

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

3 impartiality   

n. 公平, 无私, 不偏

参考例句：

• He shows impartiality and detachment. 他表现得不偏不倚，超然事外。
• Impartiality is essential to a judge. 公平是当法官所必需的。

4 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。