‘Minimum conditions for credible polls not met’

CRISIS in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) has expressed concern over the innumerable anomalies unearthed on the voters roll, saying it seems the process is being done in a haphazard manner, which is hardly satisfactory. “This comes at a time when there has been a chain of events that have dented the credibility of the crucial election. Most worrying is that Zec [Zimbabwe Electoral Commission] has all but refused to make public a copy of the voters roll, further cementing the postulations that it is bent on skewing the electoral playing field in favour of the ruling party — this runs contrary to its constitutional mandate,” the CiZC statement read.

It said thousands of citizens had reported that the online and mobile phone inspection systems are erratic, and were down most of the time.

CiCZ said the minimum conditions to conduct a credible election are not being met.

“To add to that, Zec has not made sufficient efforts to adequately publicise this exercise, with a number of inspection centres not bearing any sign to direct citizens to the centres. The current attempts at voter education and the available platforms for inspection are grossly inadequate and even the voter educators that are deployed are insufficient to cover the vast geographic areas especially in the rural environs.”

CiCZ also claimed that Forever Associates Zimbabwe (Faz), a shadowy extension of the Central Intelligence Organisation is intimidating people inspecting the voters roll in Bikita district, Masvingo province.

“In light of the above concerns, and in line with the Sadc Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition hereby implores Zec and the government of Zimbabwe to promote and uphold transparency and encourage the full participation of all citizens in electoral processes as well as ensuring access to relevant information by citizens,” the organisation said.

It called for credible polls, adding that Zec should guarantee an environment for open contest with no undue exclusion and restrictions on potential voters, and ensure that the voters roll is made public and availed to all contesting parties.

It urged government and Zec to allow civil society organisations to freely carry out in supplementary voter education.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has been forced to extend the voters roll inspection exercise to June 1.

In a statement on Monday evening, Zec said the exercise, initially scheduled to end tomorrow, would run until Thursday.

Several people, mostly opposition politicians said they did not find their names on the roll, while others had been unilaterally transferred from their wards of residence.

“The voters roll inspection exercise has been extended to June 1, 2023. Zec is calling upon members of the public to visit inspection centres where they indicated they will vote at only and not at any inspection centre,” Zec tweeted.

The voters roll inspection exercise was previously scheduled for May 27-31, 2023, but a slow start due to logistical challenges delayed opening of centres across the country.