Martin Muleya
CHIPINGE TIMES REPORTER

MUTARE-The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has called upon State agencies and all offices involved in the electoral process to be fair and religiously carry out their given mandate. 
ZHRC chairperson Commissioner Elasto Hilarious Mugwadi said fairness and credibility of elections rest on political players during and after elections. 
He said this during a one-day pre-election training workshop held in Mutare for political parties, duty bearers and other stakeholders with strategic roles in facilitating elections last week.
Mugwadi said duty bearers like the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) with critical roles in the electoral process should prioritise human rights principles of fairness, justice, equality, non-discrimination and impartiality when discharging their mandates.  
“Although the main duty to ensure free and fair elections predominantly rests with the State and its various institutions, the fairness of any game or contest depends both on the referee or umpire and on the conduct of the competing players who are the political parties and the contesting candidates. We are taking this opportunity to call upon political parties and candidates vying for the various public offices to campaign peacefully and with dignity and self-respect and to desist from committing electoral malpractices prohibited by the Code of Conduct for political parties in the Electoral Act,” he said.
Outgoing Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) Mutare Central legislator Innocent Gonese said the election field is not even. 
He said this development has triggered violence on a larger scale because people have assimilated a culture of intolerance.
“What I mean is we have two popular political parties (Zanu PF and CCC) and the plebiscite will be about these two political parties. The other small parties mushrooming towards elections are just ceremonial otherwise the electorate knows that MPs especially in urban areas are drawn mostly from a certain party. In the rural areas, a lot will be happening like intimidation and food handouts to supporters by another party. This then shows that the level field will not be even,” said Gonese.