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[[Image:ontdur.PNG|right|Durham Regional Municipality]]
{{current}}
'''The Regional Municipality of Durham''', commonly called Durham Region (2003 population 525,000), is a regional political area located east of [[Toronto, Ontario]]. It has an area of approximately 2,500 square kilometers and includes the municipalities of [[Pickering, Ontario|Pickering]], [[Ajax, Ontario|Ajax]], [[Oshawa, Ontario|Oshawa]], [[Whitby, Ontario|Whitby]], [[Clarington, Ontario|Clarington]], [[Uxbridge, Ontario|Uxbridge Township]], [[Scugog, Ontario|Scugog Township]] and [[Brock, Ontario|Brock Township]]. Durham Region is considered part of the [[Greater Toronto Area]]. The regional seat is in [[Whitby, Ontario|Whitby]].
{{Politics of Zimbabwe}}
'''Parliamentary elections''' are scheduled to be held in [[Zimbabwe]] on [[March 31]], [[2005]], a date set by President [[Robert Mugabe]] on [[February 1]]; Mugabe himself was reelected president in [[2002]] and his term does not expire until [[2008]]. March 31 will be a public holiday to enable easier voter participation. [http://allafrica.com/stories/200502090653.html] The parliament will be dissolved on [[March 30]], one day before the elections. [http://www.zimbabweherald.com/index.php?id=40304&pubdate=2005-02-02] The voters' roll was closed on [[February 4]]. [http://www.zimbabweherald.com/index.php?id=40322] Nomination courts sat on [[February 18]] to receive names of those intending to contest in the polls ([http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/elec/050225herald.asp?sector=ELEC results]).
The region of Durham was established in [[1974]] as one of several new "regional" governments in the Province of [[Ontario]]--primarily in fast-growing urban and suburban areas. Durham Region encompasses areas that were previously part of Ontario County and Durham County.
The opposition [[Movement for Democratic Change]], which will be challenging Mugabe's ruling [[Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front|ZANU-PF]] party, has complained that the country is not yet ready for the elections, but MDC leader [[Morgan Tsvangirai]] decided to contest the elections after initial uncertainty.
The southern portion of the region, adjacent to Lake Ontario is primarily suburban in nature, forming the eastern flank of the "905" belt of suburbs and exurbs around Toronto. The northern area encompasses rural areas and small towns.
All of the 120 elected seats in the 150 seat parliament will be up for election. The last parliamentary elections were held in [[2000]]. Electoral colleges for the election of 10 chiefs to the parliament will be held on [[April 8]].
Major employers include [[General Motors of Canada]], [[Ontario Power Generation]], [[Lakeridge Health System]], [[Durham College]], [[University of Ontario Institute of Technology]] and many smaller component and transportation firms supplying the automotive industry.
The Canadian headquarters of [[General Motors]], [[Volkswagen]], and [[BMW]] are all located in the region. The automotive industry is especially concentrated in Oshawa.
==Polling stations==
High Court Judge George Chiweshe, who chairs the recently established Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, stated that 8227 polling stations will be set up in all of the country's 10 provinces - more than double the number used in previous elections. [http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_1675516,00.html]
The four separate [[public transit]] systems in the region, operated by various municipalities, are set to be amalgamated under the Region's administration at the beginning of [[2006]].
Harare alone is expected to have 522 polling stations, up from 167 polling stations in the presidential elections.
For the first time since independence from white minority rule in [[1980]], Zimbabwe will be holding elections on one day as opposed to two. Ballot counting will also take place at individual polling stations and new, translucent ballot boxes will replace wooden ones used in previous elections.
Durham also has one [[Indian reserve]], [[Mississaugas of Scugog Island, Ontario|Mississaugas of Scugog Island]]
==SADC rules==
Zimbabwe ratified new [[Southern African Development Community]] rules in August [[2004]] governing principles and guidelines on elections; however, no reports on Zimbabwe's compliance have been issued by the body. One of the stipulations is that SADC monitors be invited 90 days before the poll.
== External Link ==
By [[February 4]], an SADC team tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that Zimbabwe complies with the regional protocol had yet to receive permission to visit. [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20050204064042901C914208]
*[http://www.region.durham.on.ca Region of Durham] The Region of Durham.
*[http://www.durhamtourism.ca DurhamTourism.ca] Tourism guide to the region.
*[http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycledurhamregion/ Freecycle Durham Region] Home page of the Durham Region chapter of the worldwide [http://www.freecycle.org Freecycle Network]
{{Ontario}}
[[Category:Census divisions of Ontario]]
==Monitoring==
[[pt:Municipalidade Regional de Durham]]
On [[February 19]], [[2005]], 32 nations were invited by President Robert Mugabe to observe the parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe. [http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_1665002,00.html] Domestic poll observers require a 'registration fee' of [[United States dollar|US$17]] (in local currency) - approximately the monthly minimum wage. International observers (except South Africa) are required to pay US$300, while South African observers pay US$100. Of international observer teams, only South African ones have sufficient personnel and resources to cover rural areas.
Countries invited were predominantly from Africa, a partial list follows:-
* African countries
** [[Algeria]]
** [[Egypt]]
** [[Kenya]]
** [[Nigeria]]
** [[South Africa]]
** [[Uganda]]
* European Countries
** [[Russia]]
* Asian Countries
** [[China]]
** [[India]]
** [[Indonesia]]
** [[Malaysia]]
** [[Iran]]
* International organisations
** [[African Union]] (AU)
** [[SADC]] - though there is some doubt [http://allafrica.com/stories/200503020267.html]
** Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ([[COMESA]])
** [[Non-Aligned Movement]]
** [[United Nations]]
** [[Caribbean Community]]
* Liberation movements
** [[South Africa]]'s [[African National Congress]] (ANC)
** [[Tanzania]]'s [[Chama Cha Mapinduzi]]
** [[Mozambique]]'s [[Frelimo]]
** [[Namibia]]'s [[SWAPO]]
** [[Sudan]]'s [[People's Liberation Army]]
** American black empowerment group [[December 12 Movement]]
[[Aziz Pahad]], deputy foreign minister for [[South Africa]], said the country has been invited to observe the Zimbabwean poll in at least five different capacities.
It has been invited as a member of SADC, as chair of the organ on politics, defence and security, and as a neighbouring country. The ruling African National Congress has also been asked to send an observer team, while parliament has set up a multi-party delegation.
The 20-member South African parliamentary observer mission will leave for Zimbabwe on [[March 14]], and return to South Africa on [[April 3]].
The 50-member SADC observer mission including 10 South African delegates headed by Home Affairs Minister [[Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula]], will leave on [[March 15]]. [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20050307081547421C601121]
Five members of South Africa's governing African National Congress party arrived in Harare on [[March 10]], the first foreign observers.
==Free and Fair elections==
The [[Congress of South African Trade Unions]] (COSATU)—a member of the [[South Africa]]n ruling party [[African National Congress|alliance]]— sent a fact-finding mission in October [[2004]] to talk to the [[Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions]] (ZCTU) and research conditions for a fair poll. They were deported from Zimbabwe within hours after police broke up a meeting between them and ZCTU.
On [[February 2]], [[2005]], a second mission led by [[Zwelinzima Vavi]], Secretary-General of COSATU, was turned back [http://www.finance24.com/Finance/Companies/0,,1518-24_1656338,00.html] at [[Harare]] airport, charged under Section 18A of the Immigration Act which relates to prohibited immigrants. In response, [[George Bizos]], a respected [[human rights]] lawyer, said that all [[Southern African Development Community]] members are allowed to enter Zimbabwe without applying for a visa. [http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,97066,00.html]
After a meeting the next day between the unions in [[South Africa]] Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said ''"It is quite clear at the moment as things stand that there cannot be free and fair elections"''.
ZCTU requested that an independent electoral commission be established and international observers be allowed in the country, and the government also needed to scrap strict laws restricting the opposition's access to the media and barring it from holding public rallies and meetings without police permission. To achieve this they suggested that the date of the elections be postponed.
==Participating parties==
* [[Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front]] - president [[Robert Mugabe]]
* [[Movement for Democratic Change]] - leader - [[Morgan Tsvangirai]]
* [[Zimbabwe African National Union - Ndonga]] - spokesperson Reketai Semwayo
* [[National Alliance for Good Governance]] - spokesperson Douglas Chihambakwe
==Some main party candidates==
* Heather Bennett, MDC
**[[Roy Bennett]]'s wife Heather Bennett is standing for Chimanimani rural district after the nomination court refused papers filed on behalf of her jailed husband. [http://africantears.netfirms.com/roy/] [http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_1664724,00.html] Roy Bennett's application for release before the elections, on the basis of good behaviour and dissolution of the parliament that ordered the incarceration, failed.
==Independent candidates==
Sikhumbuzo Ndiweni, a former ZANU PF Bulawayo Provincial Information and Publicity Secretary, is co-ordinating the Independent Candidates Solidarity Network. Members are:
* [[Margaret Dongo]] (Harare Central)
* Former Information Minister [[Jonathan Moyo]] (Tsholotsho)
**The former information minister registered to run as an independent in the constituency [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4278453.stm] after he was excluded from running as the ZANU-PF candidate. The party had decided that a woman should contest the Tsholotsho constituency instead of him, a decision that was linked to Moyo's opposition to [[Joyce Mujuru]]. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4151605.stm] He will be facing Musa Ncube-Mathema, the wife of Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema, standing for Zanu-PF.
**In the [[2000]] election, Mtoliki Sibanda of the MDC won with 69% of the vote over Mathema of Zanu-PF. Sibanda will be defending his seat again in [[2005]].
* Dunmore Makuwaza (Mbare)
* Tendekai Mswata (St Mary's)
* Fanuel Chiremba (Tafara-Mabvuku)
* Peter Nyoni (Hwange East)
* Charles Mpofu (Bulawayo South)
* Leonard Nkala (Phelandaba/Mpopoma)
* Stars Mathe (Pumula/Luveve)
* Lloyd Siyoka (Beitbridge)
* Godwin Shiri (Mberengwa East)
==Independence celebrations==
[[History of Zimbabwe|Zimbabwe's]] 25 year anniversary of independence, all under [[Robert Mugabe]]'s rule, is on [[April 18]], [[2005]]. [[Zanu-PF]] wants these celebrations ''after'' the elections, not before, so they are unlikely to agree to a postponement.
==Destabilisation==
Lt-Gen [[Roméo Dallaire]], a commander of a [[United Nations]] (UN) peace-keeping force during the [[1994]] [[Rwandan Genocide]] has warned [http://www.daily-news.co.za/content_pull%5Cart_pull.asp?cat=loc&link=..\articles\2005\03\02\loc_02032005_02613.asp] there is urgent need for regional and international intervention to prevent Zimbabwe’s political crisis from further deteriorating.
He drew parallels between the strife in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan, where there is international inaction, and Zimbabwe over which the SADC region and South Africa, in particular, have largely remained silent.
== Intimidation of candidates and voters ==
The opposition MDC and [[Jonathan Moyo]] have alleged that voters have been threatened with starvation or violence if they fail to support Zanu-PF. [http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2005/March/Friday11/1831.html] [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=qw111061602454B251]
No-go areas have been declared in Bindura. [http://www.daily-news.co.za/content_pull%5Cart_pull.asp?cat=bre&link=..\articles\2005\03\13\loc_13032005_00113.asp]
==See also==
* [[Politics of Zimbabwe]]
* [[List of political parties in Zimbabwe]]
==Reference==
* [http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/elec/050225herald.asp?sector=ELEC Parliamentary Election 31 March 2005: Nomination Court Results]
*[[Agence France-Presse]], "Mugabe calls key Zimbabwe elections for March 31", February 1, 2005.
* ''Zimbabwe Independent'', [http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2005/February/Friday4/1607.html "Zim not ready for free, fair poll",] February 4, 2005.
* ''Zimbabwe Independent'', [http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2005/February/Friday4/1603.html "Dongo is back",] February 4, 2005.
[[Category:Elections in Zimbabwe]]
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