In an interview with The Zimbabwean, Shana said the manner in which the vote was conducted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission raised a number of questions over its preparedness for the July 31 elections.
According to ZEC, more than 40,000 people failed to vote during the special poll set aside for security forces and government officials who would be on duty on the day of the national elections.
ZEC failed to deliver special ballot papers to polling stations set up across the country for the vote.
The unfolding turmoil in the country’s electoral process has put observers on the edge and analysts attribute the mess to lack of adequate funding and capacity within ZEC.
“The church has looked on with anxiety at the way the special vote was conducted. It did not seem to reflect well on ZEC’s state of preparedness for July 31.
The issue of preparedness is important for the integrity of the process and the outcome. The church does not want a disputed process and outcome,” Shana said.
Shana said the church was looking to get assurances that ZEC had put its house in order.
“We would like to get some assurances that ZEC has solved logistical issues and that the playing field in the media has been levelled,” he said.
Shana said the church was concerned by the escalation of inflammatory language in the media.
“The language in the media is polarised and inflammatory,” he said.
The head of the umbrella body that represents church leaders in the country said they were engaging ZEC and the other political players.
“We have engaged ZEC and political parties but it has not been easy to get hold of the parties because of their campaign programmes,” Shana said.
He said the church had established the Ecumenical Peace Observation Initiative in Zimbabwe, a joint programme of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe.
Shana said this initiative was aimed at fostering peace in the country ahead of the elections.
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