To recount or not to recount

The Zimbabwean elections are throwing up some interesting questions about recounts during elections and bigger questions about the involvement of NGOs. At what point does a recount get done? What drives them? Is it administrative "ethics" or legalities? If an election management body fails to release results, what impact do quick counts have?

On administrative ethics , there is no obligation to have a recount except to ensure that a close race is settled properly and reduce possible legal disputes. And who authorises such a recount? Is it the presiding officer who takes the decision when there is a tie or the count is within a few votes of each other? Or must it get sanctioned at the highest executive level? I'm not talking about the reconciliation process where typically one would want to encourage clarity about the numbers going into the count. I'm talking about when the votes have been assigned to each party or candidate after reconciliation. Do party agents in the polling station have to demand a recount before one is done locally? How many times have you seen the party agents sign off on close counts only to realise later that they could have won the race based on the small differences between polling stations or constituencies and suddenly an objection is lodged!

What legal provisions exist in the electoral laws or code that spell out the circumstances surrounding a recount? Is it objection-based or does the electoral management body (EMB) decide on its own accord to order a recount? This places a lot of pressure on the EMB as it is not protected by the law. As many would know, the results process is the most sensitive part of the process, being the climax of entire elections. To operate outside of the ambit of the law at this stage could cause more problems than is necessary or warranted.

However, in all instances of ordering a recount, whether at local level or authorised from national office, one should at least have a set of results to begin with. In Zimbabwe, the National Command Centre (where results are being tallied) of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), has yet to release the provisional results since the harmonised elections were held one month ago. For a country the size of Zimbabwe, the state of its infrastructure, the number of registered voters, the provisional results should have been available within three days of the Election Day (which was 29 March 2008). In the meantime, recounts have been ordered in various constituencies based on objections raised by the ruling party. Whilst election results were posted on the doors of polling stations after the count, the tallying of those results at a centralised point is still a mystery. For now the ZEC is embarking on what it calls the verification of results.

Representatives from the regional elections network have been dispatched to try and oversee a process around the recount. Local NGOs such as the Zimbabwean Electoral Support Network (ZESN) have been called to report to the police on their operations, donor relations and the running of a quick count for a second time in two weeks. During the first time the ZESN director, Ms Rindai Chipvunde-Vava, was detained and questioned on the same issue. This time the Chairman, Mr Noel Kututwa, has also been questioned. Foreign observers have long ago left the country and the ZESN quick count most likely represents the only results data which exists outside of those known to ZEC and the ruling party. It would be of great interest to look at the provisions of the Zimbabwean electoral law that cover recounts. Whilst one can debate the legalities of these provisions or their absence, the crisis that has been emerging in Zimbabwe over the past few years can no longer be ignored. International pressure has been mounting around these elections to declare the results.

What most of us hope for though is not to see a repeat of the Kenyan violence that we started this year with. In the absence of information, rumours are aflood about the arming of militia groups following the turning away of a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe. Our prayers are with those trying to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.