Zimbabwe will on July 31 hold the country’s watershed polls. This means that the country is mandated to conduct special voting on July 14 and 15, according to the law.
The two day exercise for 80 000 applicants, whose eligibility was vetted and endorsed by the country’s electoral body, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, was marred by serious logistical challenges.
Reports from most centres countrywide revealed that the voting process kicked off on a very low note as ZEC failed to avail sensitive voting material on time, while special voters in some centres in Masvingo failed to cast their ballot on the first day, as stipulated by the law.
Addressing journalists in Harare today, Zimbabwe Election Support Network Chairperson, Solomon Zwana said the organisation noted that the probability that thousands of special voters had been disenfranchised was very high.
Zwana said: “Given the logistical flaws at most special voting polling centres, ZESN is extremely concerned that thousands of members of the uniformed forces might have been disenfranchised.
“This is because the law requires that all special vote applicants should be crossed out from the main voters’ roll before the final election date,” said Zwana.
Zwana said the chaotic manner in which the special vote was being conducted bore testimony that the electoral body responsible for the country’s elections was not prepared for the special voting exercise.
“The process continues to be disorganized, indicating that ZEC was not prepared to conduct the special voting process.
“There was severe shortage of sensitive voting material such as indelible ink, ZEC stamps, approved voters’ lists, ballot papers and boxes,” he said.
ZEC Deputy Chairperson, Joyce Kazembe however attributed the logistical challenges to the Movement for Democratic Change failure to reach consensus on who would represent the party in the polls.
Kazembe said the party’s 47 appeals at the Nomination court, where 17 had been successful, 12 had been thrown and 18 had been withdrawn was the reason why ZEC had failed to print ballot papers on time.
She said some of the MDC- T had brought their pictures two days before special voting day.
According to the statement, ZESN observers noted that countrywide, most polling centres were opened late and in Masvingo, no voting took place on the first day of the special voting.
“In Masvingo, voting started today but with several reports of outstanding deliveries of special voting envelops. In Macheke and at Seke Kunaka clinic in Mashonaland East, Mamina Primary School in Mshonaland West and Zvemukonde in Midlands, our observers reported that voting had not even commenced by lunchtime,” said Zwana.
ZESN revealed that the organisation’s team of observers noted gross inconsistencies concerning the availability of the voters roll where some centres like Town House and Mt Pleasant in Harare had handwritten lists.
Zwana said: “Our organisation received reports that some senior police officers were bringing their own lists of the voters roll for use at the polling station. This contradicts section 81D: 2c of the Electoral Act which gives the mandate to the Chief Elections Officer to avail a special voters roll for every polling station, which should remain open to public inspection until the announcement of the final results.”
ZESN expressed concern at ZEC capacity to conduct the forthcoming harmonised polls and called on the organisation to put in place the necessary logistical support mechanisms that ensure the smooth running of elections.
“We are concerned that with only 16 days left for the harmonised elections, this shoddy state of affairs could impact on ZEC’s preparedness to fully manage the election process on July 31. We urge that adequate resources are availed to the elections body to ensure that the organisation carries out its constitutionally mandated duties,” said Zwana.
ZESN is a network of 30 independent, non partisan non- government organisations that have been observing all aspects of the electoral process in Zimbabwe since 2000. The organisation’s observation of the country’s electoral processes provides independent findings to various stakeholders.
Post published in: News