Millions of Zimbabweans turned out to vote on
Wednesday only for many to find their names had vanished from the roll amid
allegations that President Robert Mugabe's regime was rigging the election.
Centre of attention: President Robert Mugabe after casting his
vote in Harare. 'People will vote freely and fairly,’ he saidPhoto:
AP
By Aislinn Laing in Harare and
Peta Thornycroft in Murewa
7:59PM BST 31 Jul
2013
The vote itself was largely devoid of the
violence seen during previous contests - and the mood in the queues emerging
from polling stations was buoyant.
But the hopes of many Zimbabweans that Mr
Mugabe's 33-year rule might finally end began to fade as large numbers were
turned away from polling stations because their names were not on the voters'
list.
Others were told that they were registered in
places where they had never lived; one woman in Bulawayo was told she was listed
in a town nearly 200 miles away.
A Zimbabwean
holds up a ballot at a polling station in Domboshava, 60km north of Harare
(AFP/GETTY)
Among those denied the chance to vote was Josiah
Mutandwa, 59, in Budiriro township in the capital, Harare. "I came to check my
name was on the roll before elections because they said they might try to twist
things," he said. "I'm so disappointed because I wanted to vote: it's my right."
As for how many might have shared Mr Mutandwa's
experience and been turned away, Tendai Biti, the finance minister and an
opponent of Mr Mugabe, said: "Thousands and thousands of people are being
disenfranchised by virtue of not finding their names." An Indonesian election
observer said that while "glitches" might be expected, there was something
"systematic" about the problem.
This election marks the end of the coalition
government formed by Mr Mugabe and the two wings of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) in 2009. It might also cause the downfall of a president who has
dominated Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Casting his own vote in the Harare township of
Highfield, where he once lived, Mr Mugabe, 89, was adamant that all was well.
"I'm sure people will vote freely and fairly - there's no question of pressure
being exerted on anyone," he told The Daily Telegraph. "So far, so good."
The Electoral Commission suggested that some
people might have "forgotten" where they were registered to vote. The rules were
also relaxed so that people could vote with their registration receipts, even if
their names were not on the list.
Dr Solmon Zwana, of the Zimbabwe Election
Support Network which oversaw 7,000 observers across the country, said they were
"really concerned" that the numbers of people being turned away might damage the
process.
He added that abnormally high numbers of people
were requesting "special assistance" from another person when they cast their
votes. "There's a possibility that some people are voting under duress," said Mr
Zwana.
Zimbabweans wait to cast
their vote in Presidential and parliamentary elections in Harare (AP)
The problems appeared to be concentrated in the
cities, notably Harare, which are strongholds of support for Morgan Tsvangirai,
the leading presidential candidate against Mr Mugabe.
Meanwhile in the town of Murewa, found in Mr
Mugabe's heartland in Mashonaland East province, people voted quickly and with
few complaints. Gibson Chatanetsa, a 46-year-old prison officer, said there was
greater tolerance of opposing views and a calmer atmosphere than before. "I
voted in a few minutes - no queue - and it was easy and there will be no trouble
this time," he said. "We are all relaxed."
Paper copies of the voters' roll were only given
to opposition parties on Tuesday night. One Western observer said it was too
soon to tell whether the registration problems would boost Mr Mugabe and damage
Mr Tsvangirai and the MDC.
"If you're looking to take people off who would
have voted for the MDC, you would have aimed for young people and those in urban
areas," she said. "We know for sure the numbers are very high - but how it will
affect the result is yet to be seen."
Morgan Tsvangirai
and his wife Elizabeth vote (AFP/GETTY)
Mr Tsvangirai voted in Harare with his new wife,
Elizabeth, at his side. He struck an optimistic note, predicting victory
regardless of any rigging. "We have come to complete the change we have always
fought for," he said. "It is an emotional moment for me but I am filled with a
sense of calmness."
Results are expected to emerge over the next few
days. The Electoral Commission has promised to announce the final tally by
Monday.
Voters across Zimbabwe on
Wednesday formed long queues and waited for hours in the bitterly cold
weather, to cast their ballots in what analysts have described as the most
important election in the country’s history.
In most of the rural areas,
which had been flashpoints in bloody post-poll violence five years ago,
lines of voters snaked around the many polling stations and across dusty
playing fields as people patiently waited their turn.
In urban areas,
the turnout is being described as the biggest since independence as many
young and new voters seek to make a statement that they need change after 33
years of ZANU PF’s mismanagement of the economy.
Many had gathered in the
early hours long before dawn, covering themselves with warm clothes and
blankets, while others went to join the queues as polls opened at
7am.
The chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Rita Makarau,
said the electoral body will ensure that everyone who joins the queue before
7pm will be allowed to vote.
Neck-and-neck rivals for the presidency,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe, both cast
their votes in the capital city. Tsvangirai told journalists after casting
his ballot that the poll represents a historic day as it gives Zimbabweans
the chance to complete the change they’ve been yearning for since
2008.
‘Hopefully this day gives us the opportunity to break the stalemate
from five years ago and help end the hostility and conflict that has been
with us for years,’ he said.
Unfortunately a number of voter
irregularities were reported throughout the day, ranging from the very slow
pace of voting in some areas, to outright intimidation by ZANU PF in
others.
Parliamentary and council results are expected to start coming in
from midnight, while the direction of the presidential race should become
clearer by midday on Thursday.
Legally Presidential results must be
released within 5 days of the poll.
So it remains to be seen what the
future holds for Zimbabwe.
By Tererai
Karimakwenda SW Radio Africa 31 July 2013
Voters in many rural
areas of Zimbabwe were told by traditional leaders and police to pretend
they did not know how to vote on election day, according to a local observer
group that deployed teams to monitor polling stations around the
country.
The Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (CCDZ) reported
that large numbers of voters, especially in rural areas like Chegutu and
Murehwa, asked to be assisted to vote by officials on Wednesday.
CCDZ
director Phillip Pasirayi said voting proceeded peacefully in most areas,
but there were some “very worrying” incidents that marred the day and could
very well affect the outcome of the election.
“Firstly there is the issue
of assisted voters, particularly in the rural areas and the farming
communities. There is a trend that we are seeing of assisted voters, who
turn up saying that they do not know how to vote. And they are being
assisted by election officials.
Pasirayi said this was worrying because
officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) were hired by ZANU-PF
and support Robert Mugabe. In addition Pasirayi strongly criticized the
police for violating electoral laws by operating inside polling stations.
CCDZ observers reported that policemen were seen operating inside many
polling stations, and allegedly interfering with the voters.
“The law
says that police officers are not supposed to be inside polling stations.
But we are getting it from our observers that in the majority of stations
where they visited, the polling officers are interfering with the voting
process. They were seen organizing queues and issuing instructions,”
Pasirayi explained.
The CCDZ director said they were also very
concerned by reports about ZANU PF bases and camps that had been set up in
some constituencies, particularly in Chegutu and Murehwa.
He said:
“We hear that there are camps that have been set up whereby names of people
are being recorded, whereby people are being asked how they voted. So this
is very worrying.”
The reports from the CCDZ confirm what many residents
in rural areas have told SW Radio Africa over the last few months. It had
been alleged that traditional chiefs and sabhukus were threatening villagers
in their wards, saying they would be evicted or punished in some way if they
voted for the MDC-T.
“The absence of overt violence does not mean
that there is a credible election,” Pasirayi added, saying there was “a
margin of terror” in the results from the 2008 election due to violence. But
“a margin error” applies to this election due to the rigging strategies
being used by ZEC.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said that there had been a
very high voter turnout for Wednesday’s election, with almost all polling
stations opening on time.
However, ZEC said it was still too early to
give an estimate of the figures, but indicated that that they would hold
another briefing at 8pm.
Updating journalists in Harare, Commission
chairperson Rita Makarau said there were reports that queues were
lengthening as the day progressed.
“Notwithstanding the queues,
instructions have gone out to all officers that everyone should be served
before 7pm,” Makarau said.
Makarau also addressed concerns that some
potential voters had been turned away because their names were not on the
voters roll, even though they had slips to prove that they had
registered.
She urged those affected to return to any polling station in
their constituencies and vote, saying polling officers had been advised to
allow and record the details on a separate report.
Asked about
reports that some polling stations were experiencing an unusually high
number of assisted voters, Commissioner Joice Kazembe said they had received
the reports and were investigating.
She said: “We have noted and have got
the statistics that in some areas that there are quite a number of assisted
voters. We are trying to find out the reason for those many assisted
voters.”
The Commissioner also said in cases where there was a mix-up of
ballots, these will not be discarded but will be sorted and placed in the
right boxes.
ZEC also confirmed that at least five police officers,
who did not cast their ballot during the Special Vote, found their names
crossed out from the roll Wednesday, with indications that they had voted.
Makarau said ZEC was investigating.
Zimbabwean
electoral officials have reassured voters they will be allowed to vote after the
official end of elections, as a high turnout led to long queues at polling
stations.
The fiercely contested
presidential and parliamentary poll is said to be calm and peaceful, despite
fraud claims.
President Robert
Mugabe, 89, has said he will step down after 33 years in power if he and his
Zanu-PF party lose.
PM Morgan Tsvangirai's
MDC says Zanu-PF doctored the electoral roll.
It said the rolls
contained the names of two million dead people, and there were concerns about
the number of people being turned away from polling stations. Zanu-PF denies the
claims.
Zanu-PF and the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have shared an uneasy coalition government
since 2009 under a deal brokered to end the deadly violence that erupted after a
disputed presidential poll the previous year.
'Determined to
vote'
Mr Mugabe dismissed the
MDC's allegations of vote-rigging as "politicking" as he voted in the capital
Harare's Highfield township, AFP news agency reports.
At the
scene
Brian Hungwe,
Harare
People are queuing with
enthusiasm and determination.
Most of the voters have
been speaking of the hope that the outcome will make a huge difference in their
lives.
The polling officers
told me some voters had been turned away for various reasons, such as because
their names are missing from the voters' roll in their ward.
The majority of these
are newly registered voters - and party agents are having to intervene to get
electoral officials to check with the electoral commission's national command
centre to see if the names are on the constituency register.
If the name is verified,
they can go ahead and vote, but it is a long, tedious process which voters are
finding frustrating.
Thabo Kunene,
Bulawayo
Hundreds braved the cold
and the wind to stand in queues, which started forming as early as 04:30. A
security guard said he saw some people sleeping opposite one polling
station.
Women with babies
strapped to their backs were being given special preference by other voters and
allowed to go to the front. Women selling tea and coffee nearby made good
business as those in the queues bought hot drinks to ward off the
cold.
At one polling station
in Makhokhoba, voting was progressing in an impressively ordered manner. People
from different parties were chatting to each other and laughing but they avoided
discussing who would win.
"I am sure people will
vote freely and fairly, there is no pressure being exerted on
anyone."
Mr Tsvangirai described
casting his ballot as an emotional moment "after all the conflict, the
stalemate, the suspicion, the hostility".
"This is a very
historic moment for us," he is quoted by AFP as saying.
Mr Tsvangirai won the
most votes in the first round of the 2008 poll, but pulled out of the run-off
with Mr Mugabe because of attacks on his supporters, which left about 200
dead.
The government has
barred Western observers from monitoring Wednesday's elections, but the African
Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), as well as
local organisations, have been accredited.
Polls opened at 07:00
local time (05:00 GMT) and had been due to close at 19:00.
However, because of the
high turnout election officials said people who were still waiting in queues to
vote by 19:00 would have until midnight to cast their ballots.
Results are due within
five days.
Wednesday has been
declared a national holiday to ensure people can vote. Despite this, voters
queued for several hours outside polling stations before they opened, reports
the BBC's Nomsa Maseko in Harare.
Zimbabwe Election
Support Network, the main domestic monitoring agency, said the vote appeared to
be taking place without too many problems, Reuters news agency
reports.
"There are some
concerns around long queues, but generally, it's smooth," said its spokesman
Thabani Nyoni.
Former Nigerian
President Olesegun Obasanjo, who heads a group of African Union monitors, said
the elections seemed credible.
"It's been quiet, it's
been orderly. The first place I called in this morning, they opened prompt at
seven o'clock and there haven't been any serious incidents that... would not
reflect the will of the people." he told Reuters.
Zimbabweans are voting
in fiercely contested presidential and parliamentary elections. These voters
queued up in the capital, Harare, before polls opened. It is winter in Zimbabwe,
so the mornings are chilly.
"I got up at four but
still couldn't get the first position in the line," Clifford Chasakara, a voter
in the western province of Manicaland, told Reuters.
"My fingers are numb,
but I'm sure I can mark the ballot all the same. I'm determined to vote and have
my vote counted."
'Forced
voting'
Reporters around the
country have told the BBC they have seen long queues of people waiting to vote
in a generally calm and peaceful atmosphere.
However, there have
been numerous complaints that voters were unable to find their names on the
electoral roll.
Voting takes place
between 05:00 GMT and 17:00 GMT
Vote for president and
parliament
Zanu-PF's Robert Mugabe
and MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai are the main presidential contenders
Mr Mugabe, 89, is
seeking to extend his 33-year rule
Mr Tsvangirai, 61, hopes
to become president after three failed attempts
The poll ends the
fractious coalition between Zanu-PF and MDC, which was brokered by regional
mediators after disputed elections in 2008 that were marred by
violence
According to villagers,
MDC polling agents and local election observers, some irregularities were
recorded in parts of rural Masvingo district.
Traditional leaders and
village heads are alleged to have lined up residents, forcibly marched them to
the polling stations and given them voting numbers as if to cross-check who they
had voted for.
There are also
suggestions that in these rural areas some literate people were forced to
pretend they could not read or write and were assisted to cast their vote in
favour of Zanu-PF.
Sixty-one-year-old Mr
Tsvangirai has vowed to push Mr Mugabe into retirement; it is his third attempt
to unseat him.
On Tuesday, the MDC
accused Zanu-PF of doctoring the roll of registered voters, which was released
by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) only on the eve of the polls after
weeks of delay.
The MDC claimed the
roll dated back to 1985 and was full of anomalies.
A BBC correspondent has
seen the document and says it features the names of thousands of dead
people.
MDC Secretary-General
Tendai Biti said there were as many as two million such names, while some
genuine voters were not finding their names on the rolls.
"The greatest worry
which we have is the number of persons that are being turned away," he
added.
A Zanu-PF spokesman
denied the allegations and pointed out that appointees from both parties were on
Zec. He also accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti, from the MDC, of not funding
the commission properly. Zec has not commented.
In addition to Mr
Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai, there are three other candidates standing for the
presidency - Welshman Ncube, leader of the breakaway MDC-Mutambara; Dumiso
Dabengwa of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu), and Kisinoti Munodei
Mukwazhe, who represents the small Zimbabwe Development Party
(ZDP).
To be declared a
winner, a presidential candidate must win more than 50% of the vote. If no
candidate reaches this mark, a run-off will be held on 11
September.
The elections will be
the first to be held under the new constitution approved in a referendum in
March this year.
WASHINGTON DC— Thousands of people claim that they are
being forced to declare at polling stations that they are illiterate in order to
be assisted by known Zanu PF youths and war veterans to vote for President
Robert Mugabe and his party in Mudzi, Uzumba, Maramba-Pfungwe and other areas in
Mashonaland Central.
MDC-T candidate for Uzumba Peckson Kazingizi said
his agents are not going to sign Zimbabwe Electoral Commission forms to endorse
the elections in his constituency as people have been arm-twisted to vote for
Zanu PF.
“I complained that one of the people
who was said to be illiterate and needed to be assisted was a teacher and nobody
listened to me. The so-called illiterate people were then removed from the
polling station only to come back with bandaged hands to fake injuries so that
the youths could vote on their behalf. ,” said Kazingizi.
He said this
election has been rigged in Uzumba and has informed ZEC officials and election
observers about the goings-on in the region which has over the years voted in
large numbers for Zanu PF.
Kazingizi said his agents were not going to
sign the papers confirming that the elections were free and
fair. Reports being sent by voters in
Chipinge, Manicaland province, and most parts of Mashonaland East and West also
indicate that people are being assisted to vote by Zanu PF youths and war
veterans.
Long voting queue in
Zimbabwe's general election
Here are some of the messages that
were sent by some voters in various parts of the country (unedited): “Zec
presiding officer at kapatamoyo pry polling station no.3035 ward 16 has chased
mdc t polling agents and wil not let them back. Mt darwin north zambara pry
evryone was assisted to vote
I am a polling officer at Gaururo
pry school in Mberengwa North constituency. I discovered that more than 50
people who applied for id documents during mobile registration last month were
given waiting pass id papers with blurred pictures. Registrar officials told
them the pictures were good and accepted when voting. It seems there cio agents
blurring pictures of certain people so that they fail to vote. Now is the voting
day. All people with blurred pictures were denied voting because of blurred
pictures.
In chiredzi north ward 23 people a
forcd 2 vote as follows. Village A&B @one polling station & village
C&D @ another polling station so that they easily detect which village has
more opposition.”
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission had to turn away thousands of
registered voters after their names could not be found on the voters'
roll.
The chaos in the voting process has strengthened allegations that
Zanu-PF, with the help of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), wants to
steal the polls by disenfranchising people in urban areas which are
perceived to be MDC strongholds.
Several police officers who failed
to cast their ballots during the special vote also failed to vote on
Wednesday after finding their names crossed off the roll, an indication that
they had voted.
ZEC chairperson Justice Rita Makarau told journalists the
commission did not have an idea of how to deal with the police officers who
were turned away other than investigating.
“We are investigating
cases in which such officers didn’t vote because the register indicated they
voted as their names were crossed out,” she said.
Only names of those who
had successfully cast their ballots were supposed to be crossed off the
voters' roll. Makarau confirmed some voters had been turned away despite
producing registration slips as evidence.
She said the registration slips
of those who failed to vote did not indicate the wards in which they were
supposed to cast their ballots.
'Go back and vote' "We advise all
affected persons to go back and vote at any polling station in that
constituency. Their details will be recorded in a separate record if they do
not appear in the voters' roll,” she said.
Some people who voted in
previous elections, including the 2008 harmonised elections, also found
their names missing from the voters' roll.
There have been reports that
Zanu-PF was working with a shadowy Israeli company Nikuv to manipulate the
voters roll ahead of the polls, to disenfranchise people.
MDC-T
organising secretary Nelson Chamisa told the Mail & Guardian that the
election process was chaotic and manipulated, citing the high number of
voters who were turned away.
"What is disturbing us is that several
people were turned away because they were not appearing on the voters' roll.
Those who were lucky to be on the voters’ roll were registered elsewhere, in
places like Bikita and Uzumba when they are in Harare," he said.
"In
Ruwa, there was a shortage of ballot papers for the presidential election
and people had to wait for several hours. There was also intimidation of
voters in Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland
East.
"It has been difficult, but we have done our best, we leave the
rest to God," he said.
'Shambles' Biti told reporters his party
had not been given the voters' roll despite the polls opening.
"Even
now as we speak we do not have a copy of the voters' roll," he said. "We had
an unhappy meeting with ZEC at 12pm and I have never seen such an arrogant
bunch of people.”
Biti said there was a likelihood that some people could
vote twice because the voters roll is in shambles. Makarau on Tuesday,
however, said none of the political parties contesting in the election had
been given access to the voters’ roll.
ZEC on Tuesday confirmed the
voters roll was in shambles, but said it was too late to correct the
anomalies.
"The voters' roll is now under ZEC and there is no way we can
recall the vote registers from the 9 760 polling stations. The issue of dead
voters appearing on the voters' roll or that of twins' double entries of the
same name – let’s take them as lessons for the future,” said ZEC deputy
chairperson Joyce Kazembe.
Meanwhile, a total of 111 Zimbabweans
living and working in South Africa, who were coming home to vote, were
arrested at the Beitbridge Border Post for border jumping.
Police
spokesperson Charity Charamba said the suspects crossed into South Africa
without proper travel documents.
HIGH turnouts were recorded in Maramba Pfungwe, in Mashonaland East
province, as MDC-T polling agents deployed to supervise the elections fear
for their lives ahead of counting tonight after polling closes at
7pm.
Faith Zaba
More than 400 people had voted by midday at
Maramba secondary school, more than 600 at Sowa turn off by 1 pm, close to
650 at Gowa business centre at 2pm and more than 400 at Chaparadza school at
330 pm.
Party polling agents at Maramba and Sowa polling stations said
the figure could go as high as a 1000 by end of day today when polling
closes.
However, most of the polling stations in Pfungwe district had
cleared the long queues, which in some areas started forming as early as 1
am.
At Maramba secondary school, voters started queuing around 1 am and
when the Zimbabwe Independent crew visited the polling station, villagers
who had arrived at the polling station around 4 am were still to be served
at midday. There was a long winding queue of more than 200
people.
Meanwhile, at Sowa turn off, people were voting by villages and
people would form two queues according to their gender.
MDC-T polling
agent Calvin Motsi, who arrived in Mutawatawa last night and is stationed at
Sowa turn off polling station, said tension between the two parties is at
knife-edge.
“I can’t wait for this election to be over. I am so scared
and I just want to go back to Harare. Kuno kutyisa (it is scary here), you
can almost touch the tension,” he said.
“We arrived last night in
three commuter omnibus vehicles. We are 54 polling agents deployed in
Maramba Pfungwe. When Zanu PF youths got wind that we had arrived, they came
and tried to intimidate us. We then went to the command centre seeking
protection from the police there. They did nothing. We sat there till about
10 pm but we were chased away by the police, who told us to find another
shelter because they wanted to lock up.”
“We eventually looked for the
MDC-T district chairperson where we spent the night.”
Motsi said
there was an incident that morning where he witnessed a Zanu PF official
campaigning in the queue in violation of the Electoral Act, which prohibits
campaigning at a polling station.
At Mutata secondary school, Japajapa
pre-school and Nyakarowa schools, there were discrepancies around the way
elderly people were being assisted, where they were allegedly being
influenced on who to vote for. More than 120 people were assisted at Sowa
turn-off by 1 pm.
A Zanu PF polling agent at Sowa, who refused to be
named, said for the first time MDC-T was able to field candidates in 15 of
the 17 wards and send polling agents to Maramba Pfungwe.
“This place
has always been a Zanu PF stronghold but you never know this time. Things
have changed slightly. What has happened this time round has never happened
before (when MDC T failed to field candidates). This time we have 15 MDC-T
aspiring councillors. The chefs have to start asking themselves what they
are doing wrong and why people have shifted their support to
MDC-T.”
In Rushinga and Mt Darwin in Mashonaland Central queues had by
4pm been cleared.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission presiding
officers in the two constituencies refused to disclose the total number of
people who voted today.
Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee, officers could seen sitting some 300 metres from the polling
stations, after Zec refused to accredit them.
Voting at
Hlangabeza secondary school in Nkayi South started two hours than the
official voting time due to the non-availability of
ink.
According to information obtained by the Zimbabwean from the
information centre manned by civil society representatives, ink only arrived
at the school at around 9 am. Number one Iminyela polling station, ward 12
Helemu primary school and pelandaba hall also opened later than the official
time.
At the Chief Assembly Polling Station in Umguza constituency, about
400 to 500 uniformed and plain clothes police officers were in a special
voters queue , possible slowing down the voting process. Registered voters
were also turned away for various reasonse.g not appearing on the voters’
roll among other issues.
Magwegwe Creche registered the highest
number of voters turned away for not appearing on the voters’
roll.
At Inkuba Primary School in Nkayi North, voting proceeded but no
means to check Special Voters and Ink detector without
batteries
KoDlamini, Mbuhulu, Tsholotsho 100 people voted by 1000hrs; 4
people turned away, 1 registered in another ward and the other 3 without
proof of registration.
Got the surprise of our lives this morning. As
'aliens', my husband and my names were not on the Online Voters Roll and we
were not allowed to vote in 2008, when our names had been removed from the
voters role. So my husband took a stroll to our Polling station (Eastridge
School) this morning and decided check. just in case. His name and mine were
both on the list and he was allowed to VOTE!!! I'm about to go now and stand
in the queue. So please post and encourage 'aliens' to take the chance and
go and check. Please put word out! (Also 60's and over can request to go to
front of queue). Also be advised to use your own pens! Word has it that pens
with refills that fade after 4 hours are inserted in regular ballpoints in
MDC strongholds. I doubted this, but then read that this had indeed been a
ploy of the Israelis's that played out in Kenya. Please keep my name
anonymous.
A youth District
Chairman for Zanu PF identified only as Mr. Chifumuro has been appointed
Presiding Officer at Sagwari Secondary School in Mwenezi. A teacher at the
same school, Chifumuro is alleged to have torn up Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC-T) posters on 17 July 2013 at Dicky Township in Ward 13, Mwenezi
East. Allegations against Chifumuro, cited by sources as a blatant breach of
the Electoral Act, are being investigated by authorities at Rutenga Police
Station.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) District Coordinator, Mr.
Dasva, is allegedly refusing to remove Chifumuro from the post saying, “It’s
too late.” One would have thought that ZEC is obliged to remove any
obstacles that may hinder this harmonised national election from being
adjudged free and fair.
In addition, MDC-T members are up in arms
against ZEC saying that it only announced its list of Presiding Officers
last Sunday. According to MDC-T sources, ZEC has declared that it is too
late for any changes to be made on the list of appointees. Suffice to say
that the election in Mwenezi, no matter how peaceful it may turn out to be,
will leave the electorate guessing as to whether it was free and fair. In
fact how can the election in Mwenezi East be considered above board when the
Presiding Officer is a high-ranking “Third Chimurenga” youth
The discovery of a fake polling booth in Gwanda by
independent election monitors has added a new dimension to concerns of
manipulation by President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF as millions queued across
the country to vote for their next government.
Early voting
in Zimbabwe's election was largely peaceful with reported incidents
reflecting the tactics that Mr Mugabe's supporters have deployed throughout
campaigning to ensure the incumbent retains power.
In sharp contrast to
the horrific violence of the last election in 2008, campaigning this year
has been characterised by intimidation and the voting process by poor
logistical organisation that appears aimed at keeping the vote
low.
Independent monitors described the discovery of a bogus polling
station in Matabeleland, manned by a lone ZANU-PF activist, as worrying and
said they are investigating whether it is isolated or a piece of a bigger
jigsaw to dupe rural voters.
Two million more ballot papers have been
printed than there are voters, and thousands of ballot papers are
unaccounted for.
Independent election monitors are now investigating the
presence of bogus polling stations across the country, said Debra Mabunda,
spokeswoman for Matabeleland region monitors working with an umbrella group
called Situation Room.
"In Gwanda, Ward 10, Bar Compound, there was a
polling station that was manned by one polling agent, a ZANU-PF agent. The
polling station was not listed under a list given to all stakeholders by the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). We informed other political parties in
Gwanda and they have since sent their polling agents there," she
said.
"We are now investigating whether there are many such polling
stations. This is a very worrying incident," she said.
This morning,
a ZANU-PF supporter wearing party regalia was arrested for campaigning
inside a polling station in Bulawayo.
An FFZE reporter said he saw the
ZANU-PF supporter, whose T-shirt read "Team ZANU-PF", being arrested while
handing out free mobile phone sim cards and airtime vouchers to people
queuing to vote at a polling centre at Paddonhurst Shopping
centre.
Long queues continue to be experienced in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's
second city, where the voting process is moving slowly, according to
monitors.
"It is taking as much as 10 minutes to cast a vote. We think
that is something that is negative and that is likely to see many people
going away in frustration," Mrs Mabunda said.
"It would appear that
that the slow process is due to the voters' roll that is not clear. People
are taking a lot of time searching for their names."
The ZEC, which is in
charge of the electoral process, was ordered late on Tuesday by the High
Court to release the voters' roll to all interested parties by midday
Wednesday, five hours after the polls opened.
Welshman Ncube, president
of the smaller MDC party and a presidential candidate, cast his vote in
Bulawayo early Wednesday and urged Mr Mugabe to accept the
results.
Mugabe said on Tuesday that he would step down if he loses the
election. He also said that he had never cheated to win a vote. He has been
in power since 1980.
Ncube said: "I hope that he means it and that
every supporter of every part will accept the results."
A woman received an sms from a
distressed lady from Gumunyu Ward 3, Gokwe.
It read, "People here have
been told by Zanu PF people that we will each be given a person assigned to
go with us to vote because we do not know how to vote". The person who
received the message says that they do know how to vote and feels that this
is their way of rigging.
The name of the man who is standing as
councillor who can confirm this and who is also concerned is Given Mapfumo
cell no. 0773269586
Another Gokwe man said everyone is being forced to
have somebody to vote for them.
Sokwanele recieved this email via Facebook. Please read and take
note.All voters must TRY vote. There is still
time. Even if you think your name is not on the list, it is possible, that like
this couple, it has been added back.
NB: Re Aliens and Zim Voting:
Got the surprise of our lives this morning. As 'aliens', my
husband and my names were not on the Online Voters Roll and we were not allowed
to vote in 2008, when our names had been removed from the voters
role.
So my husband took a stroll to our Polling station (Eastridge
School) this morning and decided check. Just in case. His name and mine were
both on the list and he was allowed to VOTE!!!
I'm about to go now and stand in the queue.
So please post and encourage 'aliens' to take the chance and go
and check. Please put word out! (Also 60's and over can request to go to front
of queue).
Also be advised to use your own pens! Word has it that pens with
refills that fade after 4 hours are inserted in regular ballpoints in MDC
strongholds. I doubted this, but then read that this had indeed been a ploy of
the Israelis's that played out in
Kenya.
by Edgar Gweshe Zanu
(PF) supporters in Mvurwi violated the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s
regulations when they held midnight campaigns yesterday to drum up support
for the party.
Sources told The Zimbabwean that the Zanu (PF)
activists moved around homes in Mvurwi town distributing fliers that
credited Zanu (PF) for calling for the scrapping of dents owed to local
authorities by residents.
According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission,
campaign programmes were supposed to end on Monday at midnight.
“The
Zanu (PF) activists were distributing fliers at every house yesterday and
they would tell us that we should vote for their party since it has the
people at heart.
“They also told us that we should not vote for the
MDC-T since the party was bent on reversing the gains brought about by Zanu
(PF),” said a source on condition of anonymity.
A polling agent
stationed at Mvurwi community hall confirmed the development, adding that
the illegal campaign by the Zanu (PF) activists continued into the early
morning hours. “Some of them were even using loudspeakers to tell the people
how they are supposed to vote.
Their message was that Zanu (PF) is the
people’s party and deserves a resounding victory in the elections. They were
moving in a pick-up truck that they have been using all along for their
campaigns,” said the source.
Young voters from Guruve North Constituency, Ward 19, are
being compelled to go and vote with the assistance of Zanu (PF) officials,
The Zimbabwean has learnt.
The area composed mostly of people
living in resettled farms and is considered a Zanu (PF)
stronghold.
Sources told The Zimbabwean that on Monday, Zanu (PF)
officials in the area addressed a meeting were they urged people to ensure
an overwhelming victory for the party.
Known MDC-T supporters were
allegedly threatened with unspecified action “if they choose not to
repent”.
The sources said that it was revealed at the meeting that known
MDC-T supporters as well as youths from resettled farms should be
accompanied by Zanu (PF) members when they go to cast their
votes.
“People were told that they should tell the officials at the
polling station that they are illiterate so that the Zanu (PF) officials
accompanying them will cast the votes on their behalf.
“Known MDC-T
supporters as well as some youths suspected to be aligned to the party where
allocated people who would assist them with voting,” said the
source.
When The Zimbabwean visited the area, youths could be seen
standing in the queue waiting for their turns.
The Zimbabwean learnt
that the youths were ordered to stand in a uniform manner and this,
according to the Zanu (PF) officials, would assist them “to know how people
would have voted”.
MDC-T aspiring Member of Parliament for Guruve North,
Andrew Mupunga, confirmed the development.
“Actually I witnessed that
and it boggles the mind how those young people can be said to be illiterate.
I raised the issue with ZEC officials and they told me that it is hard for
them to tell whether a person is illiterate or not,” said Mupunga.
An
official at the polling station, speaking on condition of anonymity,
confirmed that some youths have been assisted to cast their votes but
reiterated that it is difficult to ascertain whether one is really
illiterate or not.
So we woke up today very early in the
morning armed with the resolve to determine our destiny through the
ballot.
Women and men of all ages braced the wintry weather to cast their
votes in an election that could either throw the country back to the
pre-inclusive government era when Zanu PF broke all records from inflation to
killing its own citizenry or move it to a future where people will have a chance
to go to work and associate freely.
So on July 31, a bitterly cold day in the morning, I criss-crossed
Harare gauging the mood and trying to make heads and tails. The faces I saw were
determined, keen on taking part in an election that thus far is fraught with too
many irregularities.
I heard some saying they have been turned away, talked to some who
claimed to have been forced to vote with the assistance of polling agents, I
heard Zec say police who did not vote during the special voting phase say they
could not vote because their names had been cancelled from the voters’
roll.
Counting the anomalies on my fingers my heart began to sink, I
gave up on lunch and inside me a battle raged—as I wondered what is going to be
the outcome of this election where millions of Zimbabweans have been
disenfranchised by a state which is closely linked to a 50 year old political
party.
When the sun rose in the morning I was hopeful, trusting that the
sun would rise up and warm us in preparation for a better
tomorrow.
The forces of evil were lurking in the streets of Harare,
seemingly eager to subvert the will of the people. And as polling stations close
I know that we are headed for long and arduous hours ahead—still I dream, for
nothing surpasses the power of the people—not guns or rigging, which manifested
itself on July 31.
Scores of South African based Zimbabweans, who had
travelled by bus to vote in the elections on Wednesday, were left stranded
at the border, after officials impounded at least six coaches.
The
cross border coaches were stopped in the early hours of Wednesday morning at
Beitbridge by members of the Zimbabwe police force, who alleged that the
buses were ferrying ‘illegal’ immigrants.
It is understood that when some
passengers tried to explain that they were travelling to vote, they were
accused of ‘interfering with police investigations’.
It was not clear
by the end of Wednesday if the buses had been released, but it seemed
certain that the Zimbabwean nationals on board would miss the opportunity to
cast their ballots during the election.
Thousands of Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora have returned home in the run up to Wednesday’s election, after the
right to vote in their resident countries was denied them by the
government.
This is in spite of a successful court application filed at
the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, which ordered the Zim
government to allow the postal vote for Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora.
Human Rights Advocate Gabriel Shumba, who also heads the South
Africa based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, said the impounding of the buses was a
“disappointment” on a day that is already ‘bittersweet’ for the
Diaspora.
“What we were told when the government defied the court order
is that we should try to go back and vote anyway. Unfortunately not everyone
can do this, and even when they do, it seems the practice on the ground is
to deny this,” Shumba said.
He added: “So there is a mood of
skepticism that this vote will bring change. We don’t think this election
will be credible, legitimate, free and fair.”
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) was on Tuesday night handed a last minute court order to furnish the
MDC-T with the voters roll, amid ongoing concern that the roll has been
rigged.
The order was passed down less than 24 hours before polling
stations opened on Wednesday for the national election. The order, by High
Court Judge Justice Joseph Mafusire, came after lawyers representing the
MDC-T party filed an urgent chamber application on Tuesday, challenging the
decision by ZEC and Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede not to handover
electronic copies of the voters roll.
ZEC, through its lawyers, had
opposed the request by the MDC-T to provide free electronic copies of the
voters roll ahead of the elections, with the party and other candidates and
observers wanting to conduct proper audits to check if the roll was
accurate.
ZEC argued that it could only provide hard copies of the roll
at a cost, while the electronic version was unavailable because of technical
problems.
But Justice Mafusire ordered ZEC to provide hard copies of the
constituency voters rolls free of charge to MDC-T election candidates by
midday on Wednesday’s voting day. ZEC was further ordered to provide some
electronic copies of the voters roll once its IT system is back
online.
Some Zim lawyers and others on Wednesday evening said they were
now perusing the voters roll, with voters raising concern throughout
election day that there were serious irregularities. This included a number
of names of deceased people being present on the roll, while other
‘registered’ voters were turned away on the basis that their names did not
appear.
At the same time, it is understood that scores of police officers
and other security force members who failed to vote during the Special Vote,
were still unable to vote on Wednesday because their names had been removed
from the voters roll. This is despite a Constitutional Court order allowing
them a second chance to vote.
The African Union (AU) and the
regional SADC bloc have been urged to prepare to intervene in what is being
predicted as potential post-election chaos in Zimbabwe.
As
Zimbabweans across the country were busy casting their votes on Wednesday,
concern remained high that the process would not result in a credible
outcome.
This was the prediction by the International Crisis Group, which
warned this week that Zimbabwe was on the brink of a ‘protracted political
crisis’. The group, in a new report released two days before the poll,
listed the possible outcomes of the elections. They warned that none of the
outcomes will result in the change Zimbabweans are hoping for.
The
Group said the least likely outcome was an uncontested victory by either of
the MDC parties contesting, or by ZANU PF. The think tank predicted the
following outcomes:
- ZANU PF wins a deeply flawed election that is
accepted by most in the interest of avoiding violence and further economic
chaos; - ZANU PF wins a deeply flawed election that is accepted by SADC/AU
observers, but not by MDC formations and civil society, leading to further
political impasse and economic deterioration; - ZANU PF “wins” a clearly
rigged election; the courts give no remedy, leading to large protests,
repression, political isolation and economic deterioration; or - MDC-T
wins at least in the first round, provoking a backlash by
hardliners/securocrats to prevent a transfer of power.
“Other
scenarios are also possible, but whatever ultimately transpires, it will
become more precarious if the presidential contest again goes to a second
round. Most projected outcomes suggest a strongly disputed result. In that
event, resolution mechanisms may not provide a legal remedy, and African
facilitation may be required to either rerun elections after several months
of careful preparation or, if that is not possible, secure a political
solution involving a negotiated reconfiguration of power sharing,” the
Group’s report states.
The Group said that SADC and the AU should be
prepared to declare the results illegitimate and press for the elections to
be run again after a minimum of three months. In this interim period, the
African leadership bodies and the AU should continue to recognise the
current GPA power-sharing administration as the legitimate
government.
“If new elections are held after October 2013 — the
constitutional deadline in view of the end of June dissolution of the
Parliament, or the parties prefer to avoid elections for the time being,
either an extension of the current arrangement or negotiation of a
reconfigured power-sharing deal — described by some as ‘GPA 2’— would be
required,” the report said.
It added: “If the government refuses, SADC
and the AU should consider such options as non-recognition, suspension of
membership and targeted sanctions to enforce compliance.”
The state controlled Herald newspaper
is reporting that a Chegutu man will spend 4 months in jail for sending what it
described as obscene messages to numbers the man found on the popular Baba Jukwa
Facebook page.
It’s alleged that Josiah Mahovoya sent
messages to police head Augustine Chihuri and the ZANU PF parliamentary
candidate for Chegutu West, Dexter Nduna. The paper said the man got the numbers
from the Baba Jukwa page and that he was arrested a day after sending’ vulgar
messages.’
The state is sending a clear message
by this action and it is an obvious attempt to try and clamp down on the
increasing use of social media activism.
The Ncube-led MDC formation alleges that
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is trying to rig Wednesday’s election in
favour of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party.
The party says the
city of Bulawayo has received ballot papers that are three times more than
the number of registered voters.
MDC spokesman Nhlanhla Dube said at
least 900,000 ballot papers had been sent by ZEC to Bulawayo which has
321,000 registered voters, sparking fears of vote rigging.
Dube said
the ballot papers were discovered when all political parties were tallying
the numbers sent into their area by ZEC.
But he says his party is closely
monitoring the movement of the ballot boxes to counter any possible
rigging.
Dube also said that the pictures on the ballot papers were
unclear, raising concern that people with sight problems would find it
difficult to identify their preferred candidates.
Other people have
also observed irregularities regarding voting papers, with Crisis in Zim
Coalition’s Macdonald Lewanika tweeting that in Chipinge South’s Ward 28,
voting had been suspended because pictures of ballot papers for MPs had been
swapped – with a picture of ZANU Ndonga on MDC, and MDC on ZANU Ndonga
papers.
BIKITA -War veterans in Bikita
East yesterday confiscated thousands of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
campaign posters and dumped them in Dewure River.
Tsvangirai’s campaign
posters were swept away by the river and were seen floating all
over.
Edmore Marima, the MDC
candidate for Bikita East, said his party was not amused by the war veterans’
antics, saying they were blatantly violating electoral laws at a time their
president was calling for free, fair and peaceful elections.
“Some war veterans led
by their self-styled commander known as Cde Gudo here, took the posters at
Dewure Shopping Centre after they were delivered from our provincial offices and
dumped them in Dewure River,” Marime said.
Marime said they made a
report to the police but the war veterans were not arrested.
He added that their
constituency was left with virtually no posters of their presidential
candidate.
HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC says President
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF aided by the dreaded Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) and Chinese allies has worked up a plan to cripple
Internet services as the country votes today.
MDC spokesperson
Douglas Mwonzora, told a press briefing yesterday that Zimbabwe’s feared spy
service is behind the slowdown and in some cases unavailability of mobile
Internet services.
“State apparatus have been interfering with mobile
phones as they did with the bulk messaging,” Mwonzora told
reporters.
“This is being done to ensure that there is no movement of
information and also to make sure that this process is closed from the
world. The social media is the only outlet available and they have closed
it. We know it is the CIO who are doing this.”
Zanu PF spokesperson
Rugare Gumbo, however, said the MDC is just politicking.
“They are
just trying to discredit the party saying we are working with the CIO but
that is just cheap mantra and we are not worried about it,” said
Gumbo.
Government controlled Postal and Telecommunications Authority
of Zimbabwe (Potraz) last week banned bulk messages from international
gateways until after July 31 poll, a move seen by the MDC as an attempt to
silence democratic voices.
Whatever the result of Zimbabwe's election one thing is for
sure: four years of uneasy power-sharing between President Robert Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will end.
As Zimbabweans streamed to
the polls, the unity government partners sighed with relief at the close of
their "painful", "disappointing" union.
The forced marriage was arranged
by the international community to avoid further violence in the wake of
suspect and blood-soaked 2008 elections.
Tsvangirai won the first round,
but was forced to drop out of the second round amid the killing of 200 of
his supporters.
He then became prime minister as a reluctant partner in
the unity government alongside Mugabe, the former guerrilla who has ruled
since independence from Britain.
While the power-sharing deal which
took effect in 2009 prevented full-scale conflict, critics today deplore its
failure to achieve much-needed democratic reforms and kickstart the
economy.
"It has been a major disappointment," Rugare Gumbo, spokesman
for Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, told AFP.
But communications minister
Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Tzvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), said the government had achieved some victories.
"It has been
difficult, difficult, painful but useful for the people of Zimbabwe.
People's lives have improved," he said. "We are excited that we are coming
out of the blast furnace."
The arrangement was aimed at creating a
"genuine, viable, permanent, sustainable" solution to the crisis.
But
in its early days, Mugabe could not hide his discomfort.
"I feel awkward
in a thing like that, absolutely awkward," he told mediator President Jacob
Zuma of South Africa at the time.
Ex-finance minister Simba Makoni, who
was not part of the unity deal, branded the Mugabe-Tsvangirai government
"pathetic" and "dismal".
And analysts said the deal had failed to set a
democratic framework for fresh elections.
Days before Wednesday vote,
the country was "still grappling with issues of reforms, the timing of
elections, issues of sporadic violence and intimidation," said Trevor
Maisiri, a researcher with the International Crisis Group.
"It has
not fully served its primary purpose because the idea was to create a
transitional mechanism that would lead to a credible election," he
said.
Initially the unity government was to last just two years but it
had to be extended as delays plagued the formulation of a new constitution
that would lay the basis for credible polls this time around.
The MDC
"regrets, definitely that quite a number of reforms did not move as we had
wanted," said Chamisa, highlighting a lack of revisions of the media and
security sector.
Civic rights coalition Sokwanele, which kept an eye on
the government's performance, traced 22,482 violations of the agreement --
90 percent by ZANU-PF.
The rivals still strongly disagree on the
economy, and bitterly blame each other for Zimbabwe's slow
recovery.
Unemployment still hovers on the wrong side of 50 percent while
millions of people are still economic refugees in neighbouring
countries.
Once a net food exporter known as Africa's breadbasket,
Zimbabwe's reformed agricultural sector is yet to produce enough to feed the
country.
"There were many programmes that we were going to carry out, but
our colleagues acted like they were an opposition party instead of carrying
themselves as part of the government," the ZANU-PF's Gumbo
claimed.
The MDC said it opposed "ill-conceived" black economic
empowerment schemes that forced foreign companies to cede a majority of
their shares, saying it drove away investors.
But some say the
power-sharing agreement was not all bad.
The government rescued the
moribund economy by abandoning the Zimbabwean dollar, ending rampant
inflation that peaked at 231 million percent.
Politicians who previously
had not seen eye-to-eye suddenly were forced to run the country together,
which may explain the peaceful run-up to Wednesday's polls.
Just
being able to talk to each other in parliament or in cabinet "has really
been helpful," said Gumbo.
The coalition "brought about some sanity,
peace and stability. We are not fighting as we used to. Even campaigning is
being done in a peaceful, orderly manner," he said.
Chamisa also said
the unity government was a healthy exercise.
"The past four years showed
that another Zimbabwe is possible. A Zimbabwe where we can realise,
appreciate and celebrate the cross-pollination of ideas," he said.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party on Wednesday listed a
battery of irregularities -- including two million of dead people on the
voters' roll -- in Zimbabwe's fiercely contested general
elections.
"The greatest worry we have is the number of people that
are being turned away," Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a senior member of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told reporters.
He deplored
mistakes on the voters' roll, which still included the names of dead people,
did not list others and assigned many to the wrong polling
stations.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had discussed the
mistakes in a meeting, he said.
"They are admitting that there's
still two million people who are dead on the voters' roll, but they said
because they're dead, they can't vote."
"Thousands and thousands of
people are being disenfranchised by virtue of not finding their names on the
voters' roll," Biti added.
At one polling station in the capital Harare,
only 260 people had voted by midday, and 130 had been turned away, he
said.
The late release of the voters' register, less than 24 hours before
balloting began, also confused the electorate, he said.
"If the
voters' roll had been provided to people earlier, they would have checked
(their names) and avoided the current fiasco," Biti said.
In some
instances polling stations had even been placed in wrong areas, he
added.
He further alleged that a parliamentary candidate for
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF had distributed around 6,.000 fake voter
registration slips.
The slips give the bearer the right to vote
regardless of whether their name appears on the voters' roll.
In
rural areas literate voters, including schoolteachers, were being told to
claim illiteracy so they could be helped to mark their ballots.
"So
all along you are literate but when you go into the polling station you are
suddenly illiterate," said Biti outraged.
The MDC further alleged numbers
had been inflated for security forces who voted early on July 14 and
15.
As finance minister, Biti said he knew their true strength since he
paid their salaries.
"This election ... was already marred by
illegality after illegality," he said.
But he was still upbeat on the
MDC's chances.
"We are very sure that despite all these challenges,
despite all these shenanigans, history will not be stolen, the people's
victor will not be stolen and that this election today will deliver change
and real transformation."
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday said former British
prime minister Tony Blair was to blame for his country’s problems on the eve
of a crucial general election.
In an interview with Britain’s ITV
News, Mugabe lashed out at Blair for his pursual of sanctions and said he
had “no regrets” from his 33-year tenure as president.
When asked
what was the root of Zimbabwe’s recent economic chaos, which resulted in
inflation of 79.6 million% per month in 2008, he replied: “Really
condemnation by us of Britain and mainly of the government of Mr
Blair.
“He’s the one who caused it,” added the veteran
leader.
“He didn’t want dialogue. We wondered what kind of government it
was that would prefer to impose sanctions on us.” He told Blair to “go to
hell” in 2002 after the then British leader endorsed the opposition before
elections, and accused Britain of poking its “pink noses in our
business”.
Mugabe on Tuesday vowed to step down if he loses the
fiercely-contested election, as his rivals charged they had concrete
evidence of vote rigging.
In response, the president told ITV News that
rigging was “a foreign word.” “We have never, ever rigged an election,” he
insisted.
“I don’t have regrets at all.” Mugabe, through a series of
violent and suspect elections, has ruled Zimbabwe for 33 years uninterrupted
since it gained independence from Britain.
He faces a major challenge
from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his reluctant partner in an uneasy
power-sharing government forged after the last bloody polls in 2008.
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has vowed to end
President Robert Mugabe's 33 year reign saying the massive turnout was a
sign that Zimbabweans want to complete the stalled change of
2008.
The MDC leader, who is making a third crack at the presidency, told
journalists after casting his vote along with his wife Elizabeth at Mt
Pleasant High School around 10 am, that he was touched by the winding
queues.
“Today is a historic day for all of us to complete the
delayed run-off of 2008. We wish everyone to complete the change,” said
Tsvangirai.
As voters waved to the former trade unionist, he became
emotional reflecting on the journey he has walked since entering the
country’s political space in 1999.
“This is an emotional moment, when
you see all these people coming to vote, it is touching,” he
said.
Tsvangirai was accompanied by his children and some top MDC
officials.
The ZRP spokeswoman gave an interview on ZBC tonight and her main
line was the ZRP are NOT partisan, they serve the Government of the day
regardless of the party in power. She was asked for her final message. She
said the ZRP are there to protect people, that they should report any incidents
and not be afraid. Well, that’s all good to know. But this is what I don’t get
- she announced that after voting, people should go home and rest, braai some
meat, because if groups gather at polling stations they will be arrested. Can
anyone tell me when this became law? That means nobody will be able to go and
check results posted on the doors of polling stations and other venues. So I
have posted below the way it is meant to work.
Why are things like the voters’ roll and election results such a
massive state secret? Hmm, I wonder.
The count at polling station level is
entered on a “V.11” form, (the polling station return) which is then forwarded
to the ward tabulation centre.
The ward elections officer completes the
ward V.11 form aggregating the results from each polling station return (there
will be an average of about five per ward), adding in any postal and special
votes, and forwards the ward return with the aggregated figures to the
constituency election officer.
The constituency election officer
aggregates the ward returns (there will be an average of about 9 per
constituency) and declares the winner of the National Assembly seat.
He or she then forwards the constituency
returns to the provincial command centre.
The provincial elections officer
aggregates the constituency returns (the constituencies per province vary widely
in number from 29 in Harare to 12 in Bulawayo), declares candidates elected as a
result of the poll in accordance with the system of proportional representation
and party lists.
The provincial returns are then forwarded
to the National Command Centre.
At each step in the process the
candidates, their election agents and observers are given copies of the returns
and the returns are posted outside the polling station or relevant centre.
A separate return must be compiled for
each election, - Local Authority, National Assembly and
Presidential.
Section 37C(4), in addition, provides
that copies of polling station returns in relation to the Presidential and
National Assembly gathered at the ward centres, and copies of the presidential
constituency returns gathered at provincial command centres, must also be sent
directly to the National Command
Centre.
A Zimbabwean
holds up a ballot at a polling station in Domboshava, 60km north of Harare
(AFP/GETTY) 
Zimbabweans wait to cast
their vote in Presidential and parliamentary elections in Harare (AP)
Morgan Tsvangirai
and his wife Elizabeth vote (AFP/GETTY) 
BIKITA -
