The Nationalists Alliance Party (NAP), a member of the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), says the candidate nomination fees are colonial and segregatory and have vowed to challenge them.
According to the nomination fees gazetted last year, presidential candidates will pay US$20 000 to contests, a 1 900 percent rise from the US$1 000 they paid in 2018.
Aspiring Members of Parliament will pay US$1 000 while Proportional Representation (PR) lists for Parliament and Provincial councils must pay US$100.
The new nomination fees, according to NAP, are pushing political parties out because those seeking to participate in the upcoming elections would need almost a quarter of a million dollars just to field candidates in all the constituencies alone.
“The desire to contest is there but we are very concerned about the amounts of money that have been charged by ZEC. We feel they are undemocratic, the constitution desires that there is multi party participation. But when you pay US$20 000 for a presidential candidate and US$1 000 for a MP, it translates to US$230 000 to field in all constituencies. Clearly, it is a quarter of a million dollars. That is really absurd,” said party leader Divine Mhambi-Hove at a press conference in Bulawayo, Tuesday.
Mhambi-Hove stated that, while they are members of POLAD, they cannot intervene with ZEC because it is an independent institution, but they will address the problem at a multi-party liaison committee that the same electoral commission will establish.
“It will be sinister to try to influence ZEC, otherwise we know there is a multi-party liaison committee that will be set up by ZEC. It is in that committee where we will raise our concerns about the US$20 000,” said the NAP leader.
“The line between interfering with ZEC and them being independent is very thin. We have to be careful about that reality so we can only use channels that are there.”
Mhambi-Hove said the party was upset with the nomination expenses despite having to use the available channels.
“Our sentiment as NAP is we are not happy with that amount and we will do whatever it takes to try and use the provided channels to make sure that comes down. We will use the multi-party liaison committee and other methods such as going to court, which is within our rights to be able to address that sentiment,” he stated.
The NAP leader also stated that because POLAD was made up of 17 political groups, public opinion on the nomination fees could vary.
“Zanu PF is also part of POLAD, maybe they are happy but as NAP we are not happy about those fees. They are colonial, segregatory, and push people out of the democratic space,” Mhambi-Hove said. Already, the Institute for Young Women’s Development (IYWD), an organization representing young women and women, has petitioned Parliament to reduce gazetted candidate nomination, voters roll, and electoral maps fees, as well as to ensure that any fixed amounts are reasonable, gender, youth, and disability appropriate.
The Zimbabwe Republican Front (ZRF), a political organization created early last year, has also urged ZEC to reduce presidential and parliamentary nomination fees, alleging that failing to do so will prevent most opposition parties from fielding candidates in the upcoming elections.
ZRF also requested that President Emmerson Mnangagwa intervene on this matter.
