Those who spoke to The Zimbabwean said the unilateral declaration by Mugabe would not deter them. Zimbabwe Election Support Network chairperson, Solomon Zwana, said his organisation had been preparing for a worst case scenario.
“We were working with a worst case scenario in mind and that meant July 31. We are doing everything in terms of preparing our network and putting the necessary logistics in place,” Zwana said. Election Resource Centre Director, Tawanda Chimhini, said that while it was impossible to be fully prepared, his organisation was ready.
“The nature of our work means we depend on collaboration with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission via accreditation. We have received our accreditation.
On the ground, we have observed that the authorities are unable to meet the demand for voter registration. There is no information,” he said.
Chimhini said capacity building for all stakeholders was still needed.
“We are unable to build the capacity of observers and agents. This election could be a very difficult one to observe. ZEC needs to do more,” Chimhini said.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition programmes manager Nixon Nyikadzino said his organisation was making strenuous efforts to ensure voters were ready for the polls. “Our main focus is to prepare people to vote.
We are focused on the creation of an environment that is conducive for a credible election. We can’t say we were prepared because we were caught off guard by the presidential decree,” he said.
Post published in: News