The Minister of Justice, Emerson Mnangagwa recently told a
Senate committee that government has legislated electoral reforms that take
into account the intentions of the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission (ZEC) with regard to introducing biometric voter registration and as a possible
consequence, biometric voting. He also
stated that government was consulting on how best the system can be managed
especially if the equipment is acquired by the 2018 harmonised elections. To
quote him directly, ‘If we reach elections when the biometric system
and so on and technical persons are in place, we use it, if not we continue.”
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had in recent months indicated that it is
seriously considering recommending the adoption of a biometric voter registration
system. This is a voter registration
system that relies largely on the use of digital technologies to identify
voters using either their finger print or their iris (eye). It is also one component of at least three
elements of biometric voter system. The others
include the actual voting using biometric related technology such as computer
touch screens to cast a vote. The final component would be the tallying and collating
of electoral outcomes using electronically complied data and voters’ rolls.
For now, ZEC appears to be keen on the aspect of biometric
voter registration only. That is if it gets money either from the state or
donors.
Its statement of intent has received support from two
election related organizations, namely the Zimbabwe Election Support Network
(ZESN) and the Election Resource Centre (ERC).
In their official statements in support of biometric voter registration and
a consequential biometric voters roll, both organizations refer to the
proposition as progressive. Understandably they both cite the problems that
have been associated with a manual voter registration system and the necessity
of a new updated and transparent voters roll.
It would also appear that for these two organizations, the introduction
of biometric technology would inevitably lead to a much more transparent and
legitimate electoral process.
So barring the availability of resources to support it,
biometric voter registration and possibly even actual voting is current government
policy that merely awaits implementation. And it’s a herculean task by any
measure.
It requires adequate telecommunications and electricity infrastructure that is not only reliable but
will work with the greatest efficiency during an election period. Sadly where
it has been used on the continent in at least 25 countries where it has been
used, it has not worked in aide of democracy.
The relevant equipment such as finger print machines have
tended to breakdown and delay voting processes or in some cases voters have had
to revert to the manual system despite millions of dollars having been spent on
the much vaunted biometric system.
And
these vast amounts of money spent to support biometric voting tend to have supplier
companies of the assumed high tech equipment and software smiling all the way
to the bank while an entire country totters on the brink of civil strife.
There are also some contextual realities that must be
considered in what should be a very public debate on this issue and new government
policy.
Biometric voter registration and voting will definitely appear
either complicated or suspicious to the ordinary voter. Not least because there
is a general public perception that elections and their results are always
tampered with by incumbents. Moreover
due to the culture of violence, fear and coercion that informs electoral processes in
Zimbabwe, asking for finger print or iris identification may not lead to greater voter confidence. Instead it may lead to the opposite or even
be used to undermine free and fair electoral processes through threats to the
voter, especially the more vulnerable one.
Such threats will include those of using the technology to know exactly who has voted for whom and uncouth
follow up action.
The avoided truth of the matter is that biometric voter
registration or voting is not a panacea to arriving at a truly democratic electoral
process. It gives an impressionable veneer
of sophistry and technological advancement but does not replace the importance
of the active citizen who casts their vote in free and fair political context. Even if this includes the simple act of
walking into a polling station, producing your national identification and
casting your vote without a computer’s assistance.
To be specific to Zimbabwe, the problem is not so much a technological
one around the voting process. It is essentially about the political culture
that informs elections and the public confidence that is lacking in the end
result/s. Moving to electronic/biometric voting systems without first fixing the manual
one is putting the cart before the horse. Especially in a country like ours
where if elections were free and fair, national identification documents easier to
access, trust in the electoral authority and security services was to be apparent, people would simply walk
to the polling station, produce their national ID and democratically cast their
ballots. And thus give organic meaning
to our politics that is not mediated by a malfunctioning finger-print machine, computer or scarce electricity supply
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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