MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told SW Radio Africa that ZEC had called for the meeting after their party had raised several concerns they needed rectified before the crucial poll in a few months time.
‘We wrote to ZEC complaining about a number of issues that included the staffing at the secretariat and the non-involvement of other parties in organs like the accreditation committee and the national logistics committee,’ Mwonzora said.
Instead of discussing the issues with the MDC-T alone, ZEC invited all other political parties to the meeting in the capital. 18 parties attended and ZANU PF was represented by the State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi.
The Nyanga North MP explained that their party does not have confidence in the ZEC secretariat, that he believes has been compromised. He emphasized that the secretariat was unilaterally appointed by ZANU PF and was therefore partisan to the former ruling party.
‘This is the same secretariat that failed to provide Zimbabweans with results of the Presidential elections for three weeks in 2008. It’s a secretariat we cannot have confidence in.
‘In that regard we told ZEC we were not happy with their secretariat and urged them to change the set up,’ Mwonzora added.
The MP reiterated that all political parties had to be represented in important organs like the accreditation and national logistics committees, which are currently staffed by appointees from ZANU PF.
‘If you look at the accreditation committee you have people from the President’s office, the Foreign Affairs ministry, the Immigration department…people appointed by ZANU PF.
‘We believe in political inclusivity and we asked ZEC to consider appointments from other parties. An organ like the national logistics committee is a very important one and should not only be manned by officials from one political party.
Mwonzora said it is crucial to have ‘ears’ and ‘eyes’ in this committee as it is the one charged with the distribution of ballot papers and boxes.
‘This is a very important organ. This is the committee that knows how many ballot boxes and papers go where and the number of resources that are deployed during elections. It also deals with the collation of the results in preparation for the announcement of the results,’ he said.
There have been accusations in that the ballot counts; since the 2000 elections have been rigged in favour of President Robert Mugabe.
It has been highlighted that in some cases there were more votes than registered voters, like the case in Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe constituency in Mashonaland East province.
This constituency decisively handed Mugabe victory in the 2002 presidential elections where an estimated 50,000 people cast their vote, although subsequent elections have failed to produce close to half the number that voted eleven years ago. – SW Radio Africa
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