Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader Morgan Tsvangirai – who also questioned why the commission had printed three million more ballots than the number of registered voters – said his party would go to the courts to force the election authority to have votes counted at polling stations.
Tsvangirai, who says President Robert Mugabe cheated him of victory in the 2002 presidential election, fears that having ballots counted at one central venue would make it easier to cheat.
I will not participate in the election if counting of presidential ballot papers is done at the so-called command centre. It is against the law, said Tsvangirai, who together with former finance minister Simba Makoni is hoping to end President Robert Mugabe’s nearly three-decade rule.
In an earlier story, ZimOnline had incorrectly reported that Tsvangirai was threatening to pull out of the presidential election if the commission insisted on having the votes counted at a central venue.
Instead, Tsvangirai only said his party would not accept the result if the counting process was not done using the normal procedure.
The election commission has said counting of votes and announcing of results of council, Senate and House of Assembly elections will be done at polling stations while ballots for the presidential race will be tallied and results announced at a national command centre in Harare.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairman George Chiweshe said his commission would wait for Tsvangirai to formally raise his concerns with the commission or alternatively take his grievances to court.
Chiweshe, a former member of the army and judge of the High Court who has been accused before of favouring Mugabe, said: I do not understand what he is talking about. They should put their concerns to us and we will respond. Since this is a potentially court case, I would rather wait for their concerns.
The MDC says a new Electoral Laws Amendment Act requires counting of all ballot papers to be done at the polling station.
Tsvangirai criticised a presidential decree by Mugabe allowing police officers into polling booths to assist illiterate or physically incapacitated voters.
The MDC says the presence of police inside booths only serves to instill fear among especially rural voters who may not be well informed and may think police are there to ensure they vote for Mugabe.
The opposition party has already filed an urgent application at the High Court seeking the an order compelling the electoral commission to among other things disclose the number of ballots printed and permit an audit of the ballot papers.
The MDC had has asked the court to also order the commission to disclose the number of postal votes, identify postal voters – where they come from and where they will cast their votes.
Tsvangirai claim the commission had ordered state-owned Fidelity Printers to print nine million ballot papers against 5.9 million registered voters.
The opposition leader said the firm was also printing 900 000 postal ballots for the police, army and Zimbabwean diplomats abroad.
We need to know why there is such a big difference. ZEC has to explain that, hence we have resorted to courts for recourse. The integrity and credibility of ZEC and election result is very questionable, said Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe’s polls have been engulfed in controversy well before even a single vote is cast, with for example local and international human rights groups producing damning reports in recent days showing rising political violence and human rights abuses they say could tilt elections in favour of the government.
The MDC has also complained of massive distortions on the voters’ roll that it says contains names of thousands of people who died years ago and others who no longer live in the country.
Threats by Zimbabwe’s top security commanders to reject an opposition victory have only helped cast further doubt on the integrity of elections.
However, the Southern African Development Community observer mission on Wednesday said it was hopeful elections would be free and fair.
The mission said threats by the commanders of the military, police and prison services not to accept an opposition victory should be disregarded as irresponsible statements by the individuals concerned.
Post published in: News