adminHarare Bureau
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has so far delivered voting material to polling stations in eight of the 10 provinces as preparations for the harmonised elections on Wednesday enter the final leg, a senior official has said. Speaking at the Sadc Electoral Commissions Forum observers’ seminar held in Harare yesterday, Zec commissioner Sibongile Ndlovu said the distributed voting material included ballot papers and indelible ink.
She said printing of ballot papers for the other two provinces, Harare and Mashonaland West, was expected to be completed by midday yesterday before being distributed.
Mrs Ndlovu said what was not yet available was the voter’s roll which the Register General’s Office had assured would be available as soon as possible.
“As Zec, we feel we are prepared for the coming elections because as of now about 90 percent of voting material has gone to the provinces and is being distributed,” she said.
“Our expectation is that by the 29th everything will be in place.”
Mrs Ndlovu dispelled arguments from other sectors that Zec was ill-prepared for the elections and said the voting process would be smooth.
“Special voting was not a litmus test for Zec’s preparedness to hold the 2013 harmonised elections because special voting was a new thing to us and the elections are not,” she said.
“The challenges we had for the special voting are not the same for the coming elections.”
Mrs Ndlovu urged all the observers not to interrupt the voting process when they notice an anomaly during the voting process, but instead to speak to the presiding officers.
Speaking at the same forum, other stakeholders expressed mixed feelings over the electoral process.
While Zanu-PF was happy about Zec’s efficiency, representatives from MDC-T and MDC expressed concern over a number of issues, key among them media news coverage, voter registration and special voting.
Women organisations and youths also voiced their concerns over limited number of their own participating in the elections.
Media representative Mr Takura Zhangazha bemoaned stringent media laws even as provided for by the new Constitution, while churches acknowledged the peaceful environment.
Officially opening the seminar, mission leader for the Electoral Commissions Forum of Sadc (ECF-SADC) Advocate Notemba Tjipueja said the objective of the gathering was to hear the views of all stakeholders on the electoral process.
Adv Tjipueja, who is the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia, said this would assist the observer mission to get an insight and perspective from which the elections are taking place.
“So far, since we have arrived in Zimbabwe, we have ascertained from majority of the stakeholders that the environment is very peaceful and they trust and hope that the environment will remain peaceful until the roll out of the elections,” she said.
The mandate of the ECF-SADC during the elections is strictly a peer support mission to Zec.
The mission will also identify areas of need and explore the possibility of extending technical support from other sister commissions in the Sadc region.
Online Reporter