…embassy dispels getting preferential treatment in acquiring the roll
ZwNews Chief Correspondent
Political analysts have criticised the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for giving a foreign embassy, copies of the voters roll before its own citizens and political parties.
This comes after the elections body has reportedly given the British Embassy in Harare a copy of the voters’ roll ahead of political parties and citizens.
According to renowned political commentator Dr Pedzisai Ruhanya it boggles the mind that the Commission can give the roll to foreign embassies first before its own citizens, as if the diplomatic missions are voters.
“While UK Embassy in Harare gets excel copy of the voters’ roll, ZEC want to give opposition political parties hard copies. Does the UK embassy vote?
“Would the British government (Conservative Party) give the Zimbabwean Embassy its voters’ roll first before its citizens and political parties like the Labour Party?” Write Ruhanya on his twitter handle.
Meanwhile, another political analyst, Elder Mabhunu says while it is not wrong to give foreign embassies copies of voters’ roll, but doing so before giving citizens and contesting political parties sounds very fun.
However, the UKinZimbabwe (representing the embassy) dispels having had been given first preference saying the officials did not identify themselves as visiting from the British embassy when they visited the Commission. It says the embassy was neither the first nor the only ones to get it.
The electoral body has been delaying the release of the voters roll resulting in out-cry from stakeholders who blamed ZEC of unfair dealing. Recently the Commission told the nation that the voters’ roll had been given to the relevant parties, only to hear from political parties that they had not been given the roll.
This left the analysts, the public, and opposition parties to speculate that the Commission was hiding the voters’ roll from public scrutiny, with the intention to rig the votes for the ruling party. While other political parties made noise over the issue, ZANU PF was happy with the delays, when in normal instances as a contesting party it should have been worried too.
