The Election Resource Centre

The Election Resource Centre (ERC) is a think tank and advocacy organization on electoral and democracy issues in Zimbabwe. The organization was formed in January 2010 following the need to deepen electoral research work that would inform effective citizen participation as well as strengthen policy engagement towards the improvement of the quality of electoral and democratic practices in the country.

The ERC operates throughout Zimbabwe working with collaborating partners who are also involved in the democracy and governance field.

See A History of Zimbabwean Elections.

History

The organization has since 2010 designed various programmes that have positively impacted the participation of citizens in democratic processes, much as they contributed to significant reforms to electoral processes in Zimbabwe especially during the transitional period ahead of the 2013 polls which marked the denouement of the coalition government.

In 2020, the organization had ongoing activities relevant to the pre-electoral period, mainly focused on strengthening citizen engagement in democracy and elections. In an effort to make demand meet supply, ERC closely engaged key electoral policymakers, in particular, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, the Parliament of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

Fundamentally, the organization has positioned itself as a conduit of citizen electoral priority issues, a resource center of electoral research findings and advocacy for comprehensive legislative, environmental and administrative electoral reform.

The ERC is a registered Trust which is governed by a Board of Trustees. The ERC envisions “a Zimbabwe with transparent, credible and inclusive electoral and democratic processes at all tiers of society“.

In November 2022, ZEC invoiced Election Resource Centre (a local independent election watchdog) US$187 000 for the release of a hard copy of the voters’ roll. Director Babra Bhebe told stakeholders at a delimitation conference in Bulawayo that they received the invoice after requesting a quotation from the electoral management body.
ZAPU election secretary Kevin Mapanda said the fee was too high for any political party adding, “The problem is that ZEC only engages the ruling Zanu PF party and this delimitation process is going to cause confusion.”
MDC Alliance national deputy organising secretary Mukombwe Dube echoed Mapanda’s remarks saying ZEC’s fees were meant to deprive other political parties of access to the voters’ roll.
Citizens Coalition for Change national deputy secretary for elections Ellen Shiriyedenga also said ZEC should have consulted before gazetting the fees.
Zanu PF director of commissariat, mobilisation and elections Kizito Kuchekwa said they respected the independence of ZEC despite having their own concerns against the electoral management body.
ZEC spokesperson commissioner Jasper Mangwana, however, said a cheaper electronic format would be available “soon”. ^[1]

Vision

A Zimbabwe with transparent, credible and inclusive democratic and electoral processes at all tiers of society.

Mission

To provide credible information, strategic services, and deliberative platforms that aim to improve the quality of democracy and elections at all tiers of Zimbabwean society.

Objectives

To create a conscious, responsible citizen who participates effectively in democratic and electoral processes.
To influence transparency, credibility, and inclusiveness in democratic and electoral processes.
To provide evidence-based analysis for effective civic and policy engagement initiatives on democracy and elections.

Values

Electoral Justice – that state institutions must be accountable and transparent.
Participatory Democracy – that all Zimbabwean citizens must be empowered to participate.
Integrity – that the whole electoral process must be trustworthy and reliable.
Respect for Human Rights – that the rule of law and freedom of expression and assembly must be upheld.
Solidarity – that ERC acts in unison with all well-meaning civic society organizations, electoral stakeholders, and institutions.
Non-partisanship – that ERC executes its mandate for the benefit of all political players.
Credibility – that ERC as an institution and a source of information is reliable, accurate and up to date.

Program Model

The four priority areas for ERC programming are:

Civic engagement
Research
Policy Engagement
Strategic Election Service Provision
Systems Approach Programming

The ERC utilizes the Systems Approach to its programming model, which is based on four major strategic issues – community engagement and mobilization, civic education, policy engagement and civic engagement. This approach recognizes the interrelated nature of our programming, which is focused and dependent on research as illustrated by the diagram below.