By Leonard Koni| The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) must be apolitical and must not dance to the whims of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Failing to recognise the opposition MDC Alliance party led by Nelson Chamisa, which has more than two million supporters, and invite it to the stakeholders meetings is just being mischievous.
The party represents a bigger constituency in Zimbabwe than those who attended the meeting.
Zec chairperson Priscilla Chigumba must be ashamed of herself.
Zec’s behaviour exposes its double standards in discharging its duties and it cannot be trusted by electoral players.
Its existence is a complete joke and a disaster.
It is evident that the institution has been captured by the ruling party, hence electoral and media reforms should be instituted before it is too late.
It’s unfortunate that the electoral body is now acting like a Zanu-PF cell, which always waits for instruction from those controlling the levers of political power.
Zec has officially become a referee and a player at the same time and has ceased executing its constitutional duty of supervising and running elections to the satisfaction of Zimbabweans.
The recruitment of Zec officers must be interrogated and scrutinised. It looks like the institution is wholly manned by State security operatives who appear to be enablers of the regime.
It must stop being partisan and deliver its mandate without fear or favour.
It is critical that Zec be proactive and ensure that there is a level playing field for all contesting political parties.
Zec must be an exemplary leader in electoral democracy and supervising elections from time to time.
In 2008, Zec deliberately delayed to announce the presidential election results pitting the two late rivals, Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC) and Robert Mugabe (Zanu-PF).
On March 29, 2008, unofficial preliminary results indicated a favourable result for Tsvangirai.
Results were not officially released until May 2, when it was announced that Tsvangirai had garnered more votes (47,9%) than Mugabe (43,2%).
-Newsday