A polling agent at Town House complained that the presiding officer had not taken them through the entire pre-polling process.
“They just lifted the empty ballot boxes and asked us if we were satisfied. When we were trained that is not what we were taught,” the polling agent said.
A SADC observer told The Zimbabwean that there had been chaos at Town House when the polling station was opened.
“Some people were told to go back and wait outside the polling room as their envelopes could not be found,” the observer said.
Polling at Town House had to be delayed for about half an hour. Voters were made to wait outside while the polling officers called out names of those whose envelopes were inside.
Some senior police officers were observed standing at the entrance of the polling station with a list in hand, bringing in officers whose names were on that list in to vote.
In Mt Pleasant one observer noted that voting was delayed and by 10 am only four people had voted.
“The polling station did not have the envelopes and had to wait for them to be delivered,” the observer said.
At Town House the envelopes with the ballot papers were being delivered in batches. By 11 am just over 100 had been delivered.
An election agent said they were not shown the first batch of papers.
“We were only told they were 78 but we managed to see the second batch of 23,” the agent said.
The US Ambassador, Bruce Wharton, stopped over at Town House and gave this statement to the press.
“Everything seems very calm and very peaceful. I think voting is proceeding very slowly as it appears to me there are some logistical challenges to get the ballots to the voting places. Everybody seems to be very patient and they are waiting to cast their ballots
“I am sure that ZEC is doing everything they can to get the papers printed and delivered to the polling places but it’s very slow right now,” Wharton said.
Post published in: News