Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader and presidential candidate in the March 29 general elections said on Thursday that the voters’ register is filled with tens of thousands of ghost voters.
Morgan Tsvangirai also charged that the poll could be rigged in favour of President Robert Mugabe because of a separate vote-counting system after the polls.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader told a news conference that independent investigations had revealed that 90 000 names appearing on the roll for 28 rural constituencies could not be accounted for.
”In all the 28 rural constituencies these independent analysts have done, there are 90 000 unaccounted voters,” Tsvangirai said.
”You can imagine, with 210 constituencies, what the figure is of the people who have been identified as registered but do not exist,” he said.
He said that the voters’ roll was in a shambles and threatened to pull out of the elections if the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) goes ahead with plans to count the presidential ballots at a separate venue instead of at polling stations where the other votes will be counted.
”We now hear that the council, the constituency and the senatorial results will be conducted at constituency level but the presidential [ballots] will be counted at the national command centre,” Tsvangirai said.
”Let me say if that happens, I will not participate in such a process and ZEC must understand that it is against the law. Every vote must be counted at the polling station.”
He also queried why the ZEC made an order for 600 000 postal ballots when the number of people who would require postal ballots was 20 000.
Zimbabweans are going to the polls next week Saturday to choose a president, parliamentarians and councillors.
Veteran Mugabe (84), who has been in office since the nation’s independence in 1980, is seeking a sixth term in the elections where he faces a challenge from his former finance minister, Simba Makoni, as well as Tsvangirai.
The Southern African country is reeling under an economic crisis characterised by high inflation officially put at more than 100 000% and chronic shortages of basic goods like sugar and cooking oil.
Meanwhile, Mugabe’s supporters have used violence to intimidate opponents in the run-up to next week’s election, undermining chances of a fair poll, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
Mugabe faces the strongest challenge to his 28-year rule in presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections on March 29 because of defections by senior ruling Zanu-PF party officials and a deepening economic crisis.
”As in previous elections, local government authorities, Zanu-PF supporters and security forces, including the police and central intelligence, are the main perpetrators of the violations …,” the United States-based rights group said in a report released in Johannesburg.
Opposition groups have accused Mugabe of rigging previous elections, allegations he denies.
”Despite some improvements on paper to the election regulations, Zimbabweans aren’t free to vote for the candidates of their choice,” said Georgette Gagnon, Human Rights Watch’s Africa director. — AFP, Reuters