23 August 2023,

The brazen disregard for electoral laws by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has put a fresh dent into the already discredited Zimbabwe election, and we call on the election management to do the only available dignified thing, that is, to address the nation, observers and the world..

Firstly, Zec failed to provide the voters’ roll and other voting materials to all polling stations 48 hours before the election as stated in the Electoral Act. In most polling stations across the country, the voters’ roll, which should be pasted outside polling stations 48 hrs to election day, was only available on the early morning of voting day.

As if that was not enough, the majority of polling stations in Harare and Bulawayo failed to open at 7 am, the time stipulated by the law, and as at 4pm dozens of polling stations were yet to commence voting.

The following are a few examples of constituencies where voting was yet to start as at 4pm: Glen View North, Warren Park, Westlea, Harare West and Budiriro South. In some constituencies like Glen View South – where voting started at 330pm – and Kuwadzana East, ballot papers for local authorities ran out. Zec only addressed this embarrassing delay through a lukewarm press statement.

The statement, issued at 10 am confirmed that at that time, only 23 percent of polling stations in Harare, 85 percent in Bulawayo and 75 percent in Bulawayo, had opened. Secondly, Zec has remained complicit in denying Zimbabweans their chance to express themselves through the ballot by issuing at a bungled voters roll.

The Coalition has carried out an extensive survey and established that the number of voters turned away is unusually high. In some cases, like the one in Binga South Constituency over 200 voters were turned away at Sianungu pry school Polling station after it was established that their names were appearing at another polling station at Sikomena, about 60 km away.

Thirdly, the election management body has not been transparent enough. In its statement, Zec said the delays were a result of the high number of court challenges, which obstensibly delayed the printing of ballot papers.

What is not adding up, however, is that the ballot papers for Presidential candidates and National Assembly candidates, where there were court challenged, were available at all polling stations, and the local authority ballot papers, where there were no court challenges, were the ones that remained unavailable, resulting in the delays.

In addition, in some polling stations, Zec availed fewer ballot papers for local authorities, exposing the fact that Zec could have been ill prepared to run this election, or is simply acting to deny citizens of their right to vote.

Such a situation adds to the trust deficit that Zec is already suffering after it has made a series of controversial decisions that seemed to favour the incumbent party. As it stands, Zec is only confirming what the Crisis in ZImbabwe Coalition has stated in the run up elections; that the election management body is not independent and lacks the capacity to conduct elections.

In light of this, we strongly call on Zec to realise that the last of its integrity is at stake, and the only source of salvation is it coming out to address the nation, acknowledge its failure, and come up with a clear plan to deal with the crisis it has created. Failure to do that, the election management body would have indicted itself as the major impediment to free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe.

We remain on call to all observers to take note of the events of today and make them an integral part of their reports. We also stand in firm solidarity with like-minded organisations, like the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which has taken legal action to compel Zec to deliver complete sets of ballot papers & cause that voting commences in all polling stations, and to accord Zimbabweans an adequate chance to vote.