Editorial Comment: Every registered citizen has a right to vote

win those votes, an indictment on their democratic credentials.
The origin of the saga was clear.

ZEC only knew the night before special voting was due to start who exactly was on the ballot.
There were legal challenges which are permitted and the procedure for which is clearly set out. Obviously these have to be heard and decided, even if the answer is fairly obvious.
So ZEC had the interesting task of printing almost all special papers and getting them to stations around the country in 12 hours. No one on this planet could do that.
Yet the concept of special voting was noble, though procedurally it is not suitable for our First Past the Post system as it suits Proportional Representation.

The polling for those running or guarding polling stations should be early, should be done properly, and, very importantly, considering past complaints, should be seen to be done properly.

Given a week between the last court case decision and the special voting we would expect ZEC to cope. Given 12 hours we did not, and indeed are surprised, that as many as 29 000 of the 69 000 special voters managed to vote.

So the special voting delay in some ways shows how efficient ZEC is, not how useless it is. It managed, in minimal time, to give more than a third of the special voters a ballot in time.

But what about the rest?
They are entitled to vote, just as any Zimbabwean citizen registered as a voter and physically in his or her ward on voting day is entitled to vote.
When pushed and asked to confirm this, all parties agreed.

The only real way they will do so is if their boss manages to rearrange deployment schedules so that as many as possible of those unable to vote are deployed to their home area, and if the law can be amended so that those granted a special vote but through no fault of their own were unable to use it can still vote as ordinary citizens.
Temporary powers exist for precisely this sort of emergency.

We are pleased that at the meeting hosted by ZEC this week every party eventually agreed that it would be unjust to deny these men and women a vote, and are only surprised that there was any argument to start with.

Since voting in both special vote and ordinary vote is secret there is no way anyone can tell how someone is likely to vote; we suspect uniformed services probably vote in much the same way as everyone else with a similar distribution of support.

But one thing we are certain of, if someone tries to deny a person a vote that person might well think about supporting someone else.
The main procedural objectives of all parties, surely, should be to ensure the highest possible turnout of voters, the preservation of the secret ballot, an open and fair vote, and a fast and accurate count.

These are the nuts and bolts of democracy. So the attitude expressed this week is the one we hope to see from all in these last few days.
Everyone should be striving to make the election work so that the people of Zimbabwe can choose who they want.