Solomon Zwana, programme manager for the Zimbabwe Election Support Network said the electronic transmission of results was fool-proof as results would be transmitted swiftly to various centres. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has already announced its decision to relay poll results electronically at the next elections.
“We are happy because results will be transported upon completion of the counting process. The fact that results will not be kept at polling stations, is a move that will counter the rigging done in previous years,” said Zwana.
He pointed out that it was also important for ZEC to have other back up methods so as to allow the public to scrutinise the hard copy of the results.
The commission is already in the process of linking its national command centre with all district offices nationwide, a move that will prevent election results from being tampered with.
In the past, election results were transported by road in the company of polling officers. There were frequent reports of ballot boxes going missing. ZEC is not yet clear about the mode of transmission they will use, with the acting chairperson Joyce Kazembe saying they would only know after the final installation of the system.
Some $20 million is still required for laying the cables linking districts with the command centre.
“With the system we intend to install, data transmission is expected to be near real time, meaning, once it is sent, it is immediately received. Regarding the accessibility of the rural areas where there is no network coverage we are still looking at other options,” said Kazembe.
However, political analyst Charles Mangongera warned that credible election monitoring would be vital, as “The problem with the electronic system is that it does not provide for correction of errors once the results hit the national tallying centre.”
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we also need biometric voting using finger prints, that way no mutiple voters