Poll results cause outrage

Southern Eye

By Nduduzo Tshuma

2 August 2013

THERE was outrage yesterday when indications showed that Zanu PF had won in most parts of the country in Wednesday’s election.

MDC-T leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai declared the election null and void.

Tsvangirai dismissed the election as a huge farce, saying he would not accept the results which Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was yet to announce.

“It’s a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people,” he said, pointing out to a number of what he alleged were irregularities.

“In our view this election is null and void. This election has been a huge farce.”

The fuming MDC-T leader said the manner in which the poll had been conducted was likely to plunge the country into chaos.

“The shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis,” he said.

Tsvangirai’s allegations are to be dismissed by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, which has in the past brushed off the MDC-T leader as a cry baby.

At his Press conference at Harvest House, Tsvangirai said the election had been marred by administrative and legal violations, which affected its legitimacy.

He said the election did not meet Sadc, African Union (AU) and international standards for a credible, legitimate, free and fair election.

“I have met with the chair of the AU observer mission, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, head of the Sadc observer mission, minister Bernard Mmembe and I have given a diplomatic briefing,” Tsvangirai said.

“The message we have given is that this is not a credible election. It does not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe.”

The MDC-T leader said thousands failed to register and were disenfranchised. While also lamenting that the voters’ roll was not released timeously as required by law and there was no proper inspection of the electoral register to verify its authenticity.

“In our view, the outcome of this election is illegitimate,” he said.

“We, therefore, call for Sadc and the AU audit teams to look into this process, in particular the voters’ roll, the ballots and the manner in which the whole process was conducted.”

Some of the reasons noted by Tsvangirai in dismissing Wednesday’s election included duplication of names on the voters’ roll.

The MDC-T leader bemoaned what he called militarisation of the electoral process saying it was, “under the effective control of security personnel”.

Tsvangirai said there was lack of transparency in the supply of ballots, as well as over-printing of ballots by more than 35% and lack of accountability for ballots.

He said there was lack of transparency and double-voting in the special vote and use of the postal voting system.

However, MDC treasurer Paul Themba Nyathi was reportedly critical of Tsvangirai’s stance, describing it as toao hasty.

“I think Tsvangirai has spoken too soon, he needs a quiet corner to reflect and I think the right course is to concede and move on,” he told Newzimbabwe.com.

Meanwhile, the party’s secretary-general told SABC that the election represented, “the mother of all rigging”.

“(It is) the mother of all shenanigans, to begin with the voters roll was shambolic, it excluded two million Zimbabweans, in Harare alone it excluded 300 000 people,” he said.

“There were people in that voters’ roll whose names appeared four times with different identity documents and even as we voted yesterday (Wednesday) political parties especially the opposition did not have copies of the voters roll.”

Tendai Biti alleged that there were cases of intimidation in Mashonaland provinces, were voters were asked to pretend that they were illiterate so that they could be assisted to vote by officials.

“We saw situations in places like Mt Pleasant (Harare) of thousands of people being bussed from rural areas and other places to vote in certain marked constituencies,” he said.

“This has been a very tragic election, in which once again the people of Zimbabwe have had their vote stolen and regrettably this will plunge our country into further crisis.

“It has been a case of one step forwards and two backwards.”

The outgoing Finance minister said the rigging of elections was self-evident and expressed hope that the Sadc and AU observers will mention it in their final reports.

MDC legal affairs secretary David Coltart and Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa have also complained about the state of the voters’ roll.