Exiled former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo has expressed concern over the delays in opening times of polling stations in Harare and Bulawayo.
“There are worrying reports this morning suggesting voter suppression in urban areas which ZEC needs to attend to in visible ways; both on the ground in the affected urban areas, and by giving continuous and accurate public information, which is woefully lacking.
In Harare, for example, Hellenic polling station like many in Mt Pleasant, Budiriro, Glen View, Triangle Terminus, St Marys, Warren Park, and Marlborough either did not open on time or had voting material [especially ballot papers] delivered late, and virtually all of them do not have the ballot papers for the local authority election, while some do not have enough ballot papers for the local authority election. The early reports of voter suppression in urban areas are troubling,” he says.
Read the rest of his statement below:
FAIR IS NOT FOUL AND FOUL IS NOT FAIR: EARLY REPORTS OF VOTER SUPPRESSION IN URBAN AREAS WORRYING
There are worrying reports this morning suggesting voter suppression in urban areas which ZEC needs to attend to in visible ways; both on the ground in the affected urban areas, and by giving continuous and accurate public information, which is woefully lacking.
In Harare, for example, Hellenic polling station like many in Mt Pleasant, Budiriro, Glen View, Triangle Terminus, St Marys, Warren Park, and Marlborough either did not open on time or had voting material [especially ballot papers] delivered late, and virtually all of them do not have the ballot papers for the local authority election, while some do not have enough ballot papers for the local authority election. The early reports of voter suppression in urban areas are troubling.
ZEC should not only act and act swiftly but it should be seen to be acting in terms of its constitutional obligations under section 239(a) of the Constitution which requires it “to prepare for, conduct, and supervise elections to the Office of President and to Parliament and elections to provincial and metropolitan councils and the governing bodies of local authorities”: and to ensure that those elections…are conducted efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law.
It’s a long day ahead but so far ZEC is failing the test, judging by voter suppression reports in urban areas. It’s in ZEC ‘s own interest to up its game to allay growing fears that it is up to no good.
EXPLAINER: WHY POLLING STATIONS IN RURAL AREAS OPENED ON TIME WHILE MANY IN URBAN AREAS DID NOT
QUESTION:
“How come polling stations in rural areas opened on time with all the necessary voting materials like ballot papers for all the three elections, but polling stations in urban areas, especially in Bulawayo and Harare, opened late and voting in some polling stations like Cowdray Park in Bulawayo had not started well after midday?”
ANSWER:
“From what ZEC has said, there were no court challenges arising from disputes over the outcome of the sitting of the Nomination Court on 21 June 2023, which delayed the printing of ballot papers for wards and constituency candidates in rural areas. Most of the court cases challenging the outcome of the Nomination Court were in Bulawayo and Harare; that is why the two metropolitan provinces have been the most affected by the delay in ballot printing, which in turn ended up affecting the opening of polling stations in Bulawayo and Harare”.
COMMENT:
The problem with the answer based on the ZEC explanation is that ZEC officials went to bed last night and woke up this morning aware that ‘ballot papers for a very high number of polling stations in Bulawayo and Harare” were not ready but did not advise voters accordingly. Instead, voters flocked to the polling stations in vain, and some as yet unknown number of voters ended up leaving the polling stations for good, without voting after waiting in vain for up to six or even more hours.
The fact that ZEC knew well in advance that a very high number of polling stations in Bulawayo and Harare, and some other urban areas, will not open on time or that some will not have the local authority ballot paper but kept quiet about it; creates a real impression that ZEC is lying about the real cause for the delay in the opening of polling stations in urban areas.
A rational and, I would say, compelling explanation for the delay in the opening of polling stations in urban areas is that ZEC was in fact implementing an unfortunate and primitive voter suppression strategy in gross violation of the right to vote of the voters in the affected polling stations in urban areas!
