Outcry as ZEC changes marking system-(15-02-07)

sman Utloile Silaigwana announced this week that an ink marker, instead of dipping the little finger into indelible ink, would identify voters who would have cast their ballot.
“We have realized the dipping method is not smart. We have not changed the type of the ink. It still remains the same,” said Silaigwana.
The Mutambara-led MDC’s elections director Paul Themba Nyathi said the move added to Zanu (PF)’s myriad electoral theft strategies.
National Constitutional Assembly chairman, Dr Lovemore Madhuku, said he was not surprised by the ZEC’s gerrymandering on the eve of the election.
“Anyone contesting this election should have seen this coming,” Madhuku said. “Zanu (PF) steals elections and there is nothing surprising about this. This is why we are saying lets have a new constitution, which will usher in a new electoral management dispensation. Contesting elections under these conditions is a waste of time.”
Dr Reginald Matchaba-Hove of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a civic body which will monitor the by-election, said they were taking up the issue with the ZEC.
A spokesman for the Tsvangirai-led MDC, Nelson Chamisa said the change from indelible ink to markers showed that the government had no capacity to run a credible election.
“Not only is this regime broke, but it so discredited that running elections has become another vehicle for rigging,” Chamisa said.