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Zanu-PF responds to population�s needs, says Sadc forum THE Southern African Development Community
Parliamentary Forum says the dominance by Zanu-PF in the rural areas indicates
the extent to which the party has responded to the needs of the population.
"The dominance of the ruling party in rural areas indicates the extent to which the party has responded to the needs of the population in these areas, especially on the issue of the land," said the forum. The Sadc Parliamentary Forum said this in its Zimbabwe Presidential Election 2002 observer mission report that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday. It commended the high voter turnout during the election as a sign of the population�s commitment to multi-party democracy. A total of 2,9 million voted during the election out of about 5,6 million registered voters. The determination of voters as indicated by the length of time people spent in the queues waiting to vote was a sign of maturity of the democratic process in the country, forum said. It said a selection of urban and peri-urban constituencies in the areas where Zanu-PF received most of its support such as Chinhoyi and Bindura showed the rural-urban divide in the voting pattern. Turning to the participation of women in the presidential election, the forum said issues of gender equality were not a priority in any of the party manifestos, not withstanding that women constituted the majority of the voters. "While the Zanu-PF manifesto contained a more substantial section on mainstreaming gender, it can be argued that the actions that are mentioned as achievements of the last two decades have made little difference in the lives of women who continue to be under-represented in decision making processes," it said. "The MDC manifesto made no mention of the gender issues except for a single sentence in the manifesto summary which mentions the need not to unfairly prejudice women by their child bearing roles in relation to employment and economic opportunity." Women constitute about 52 percent of Zimbabwe�s 12,5 million people. In the presidential election, President Mugabe beat his closest rival MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai by more than 400 000 votes. The election was declared free and fair by most African and Caribbean nations but condemned by few Western countries. Despite its observations, the Sadc Parliamentary Forum surprisingly said the election "could not be said to adequately comply with norms and standards for elections" in the region. The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" |
