Some 17,2% of ballots cast in Zimbabwe’s March 9-11 presidential election were ”directly problematic,” the Human Rights Forum of local and international rights groups said on Wednesday.
”Of 3 062 303 votes accounted for by the ESC (Electoral Supervisory Commission), at least 526 479 (17,2%) were directly problematic,” the forum said in a new report.
President Robert Mugabe was declared the winner of the election with 56,2% of the votes, against 41,9% for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
”Many results changed even after they had been verified and announced. The total prejudice to Morgan Tsvangirai on these post-verification changes alone was 50 729 votes,” the report said.
”Over half of all polling booths at some stage lacked opposition observers. In four of the 120 constituencies, opposition electoral agents were banned from verifying the counting of votes. In another five, MDC agents were allowed to be present for only part of the time,” the report said.
Tsvangirai has refused to accept Mugabe’s victory, and the MDC has launched a court challenge to his win. – AFP
