By Talent Gondo| Political parties and concerned stakeholders will in the forthcoming harmonised polls witness the printing of ballot papers, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), Justice Priscilla Chigumba has revealed.
Speaking to journalists at the elections body’s headquarters in Harare this afternoon (Friday), Justice Chigumba said the ZEC had taken the decision to allow political parties and other interested stakeholders to witness the printing of ballots in order to foster transparency and build consensus in the country’s electoral processes.
“What we have said as ZEC is that we simply follow the law, and we are guided by the law,” said Justice Chigumba.
She said because the decision to allow for political parties to observe the printing of ballots was within ZEC’s mandate, the elections body had given a nod to the process and was currently working on the modalities to ensure the smooth implementation of the process.
“With regards to the second part of the demands made by the concerned political party on the printing of ballot papers, in order to foster transparency and build consensus, we have taken a decision as a commission that we will certainly do that because that is within our mandate, purview and our discretion.
“We have already exercised our discretion to allow for that and what is left is to engage all the stakeholders and work out the modalities not only with the political parties but all the other stakeholders,” said Justice Chigumba.
She however said regarding the demand for the political parties to participate in the procurement process of the ballot paper, the issue was not within ZEC’s mandate hence the elections body could not allow it.
Justice Chigumba said because the matter was a legislative one, there was nothing that the elections body could do except act within the dictates of the law.
“This is an issue for the legislature and not an issue where ZEC has the mandate to change the law with regards to a demand made by a political party.
It is my considered view that the political party concerned took those views to parliament, tried to get them to be made part of the law and failed,” she revealed.
The MDC Alliance has in the past raised the flag regarding the procurement of the ballot paper alleging that the process is flawed and is being manipulated to the advantage of Zanu Pf.
Watch the video below as Justice Chigumba speaks..