..new technologies which we can possibly adopt here…

By Dorrothy Moyo  |The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has set its eyes on copying Russia’s method of having CCTV cameras inside polling stations.

This was revealed in an interview cited by the state media.

At a time when she has been accused by political activists of travelling to Russia so to copy their methods of alleged vote rigging, “the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s chairperson Priscilla Chigumba is quoted in the Sunday Mail saying, “I learnt of new technologies which we can possibly adopt here. I looked at the technology and asked myself, ‘How can we make our elections have less challenges of disputes?’ ”

“Russians have cameras in all their polling stations,” she said.

Chigumba has been under fire for refusing to allow diasporans to vote and in a recent ZimEye feature, Justice Chigumba said her decision is decided by the New Constitution which is different from the South African one. (SEE TIMELINE 1h:17min).

Meanwhile speaking on her move to copy the Russian CCTV system, Justice Chigumba said, “in terms of technology, that is very good. The cameras were not directly above the polling booth, but would capture images of everyone going in and out.

“I was also acquainted with the electronic ballot box which automatically switches on when polling begins. It has an electronic counter that counts the number of ballot papers as people vote, and you will be able to know the number of people who would have voted at any given point.

“… We got to one polling station at 10:30 am, and they had registered exactly 1 170 voters in just a couple of hours. The ballot box is tamper-proof. It cannot be opened and switches off automatically when polling stops. It transmits information electronically to the election information centre.”

She laughed off allegations peddled in opposition circles that she was in Russia “to learn election-rigging”.

“The President of Zimbabwe accepted an invitation by his Russian counterpart for Zimbabwe to observe Russia’s elections. We went to Russia as a seven-member delegation comprising Zec’s legal director, staffers from Parliament and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa and I.

“The reason for that visit was that since I came into office, I had never observed elections. So, this was my first time to do so.” Justice Chigumba said Zec was cross-checking polling station entries and possible double registrants in the voters’ roll, with public inspection of the register slated for May 2018.