The party spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said his party had established that there were 50 000 applicants for the ‘Special Vote’ and this number is said to represent security personnel yet there are 38, 000 officers eligible to cast their ballot under this privilege.
Special or absentee voting procedures are frameworks whereby eligible voters are allowed to vote in locations other than their designated polling stations and it takes various forms such as postal, mobile, prison and military voting.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission experienced problems in past elections relating to special voting due to lack of secrecy in ballots, alleged corrupt practice by armed forces, lack of ZEC oversight over postal voting processes and no transparency and accountability around postal voting.
There were also no measures against double voting on election day and no special provisions for the sick or disabled.
Speaking to journalists at Charter House in Harare today, after a joint MDC- T and ZEC meeting, Tamborinyoka alleged that his party had established that the registrar general’s office was working with an expert Israeli organisation called Nikuv International Projects to tamper with the voters’ roll.
“This organisation is well known internationally for manipulating the voters’ roll and it has been convicted for similar offences (elsewhere) in Africa,” he said.
Addressing journalists after meeting the MDC- T leadership, ZEC Chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau, confirmed that the party had raised the flag on voter registration citing gross anomalies in terms of the way the voter registration exercise was being done.
She said: “Nobody is supposed to be turned away from registering to vote. Those who do not have proof of residence are supposed to get affidavits at the voter registration centres.”
Makarau said ZEC was ready for elections and the organisation was maintaining the July 31 election date deadline, as per last month’s proclamation by President Robert Mugabe.
“ZEC has all the machinery in place for elections and we know how and where we are going to set up our polling stations, the equipment that we need for each station and the allowances that are going to be paid,” she said.
Post published in: News