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The elections scheduled for 31 July are now as certain as the sun rising from the east and setting in the west. Attempts by the MDC formations to use the Sadc and the African Union to delay the plebiscite have hit a brick wall. The latest move by the MDC formations to engage the AU drew a blank after the continental body endorsed Zimbabwe’s poll preparations.
Addressing the media after the 385th meeting of the AU’s Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, Dr Aisha Abdullahi, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, said assessments by the AU Observer Mission showed Zimbabwe was on course to a credible vote. “According to our observers on the ground, we believe that it is possible to have free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. But we cannot guarantee that it will be the most perfect or optimum of situations,” said Dr Abdullahi.
A 10-member AU Long-Term Observer Mission arrived in the country on 18 June and will soon be joined by a 60-member Short-Term Observer team led by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. Dr Abdullahi said the prevailing environment in Zimbabwe reassured the AU that the conditions were good for the elections to be held on 31 July as scheduled.
Justice and legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa briefed the AU meeting on the country’s preparedness for the harmonised elections. There have been reservations on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s capacity to conduct credible elections after the challenges the commission faced during the Special Voting exercise that resulted in about 40 000 prospective voters being disenfranchised.
The problems that bedevilled the Special Voting were blamed on the MDCs’ 47 nomination court appeals that caused the delays in starting the printing of ballot papers. The ballot papers as a result arrived late at some polling stations and in some cases were not delivered at all.
Zec has assured the nation that there will not be a repeat of the challenges faced during the Special Voting. The Zec chairperson, justice Rita Makarau said the printing of the ballot papers for the harmonised elections had already started. She said the commission had secured services of the additional companies to complement Fidelity Printers and Printflow, the two companies that were responsible for printing Special Vote ballots.
She said eight million ballots were required for the harmonised elections. Justice Makarau said 30 000 ballot boxes will soon be dispatched to the respective polling stations ahead of the elections which are only nine days away. She said plans were also under way to secure 2 000 vehicles to cover each of the country’s wards.
We have said it before that Zec has a mammoth task to ensure the elections are credible and this is only possible if the elections body runs a hitch-free plebiscite. Treasury, which has been the stumbling block all along, should have by now released all the required funding to Zec. The shortcomings of the Special Vote should be used to perfect the conduct of the harmonised elections. The checking of elections material, personnel required and other such logistics should be done days before the actual poll.
The electoral body should also have mechanisms in place to enable it to swiftly respond to reports of challenges at polling stations. Zec has to facilitate the voting of about six million voters in just one day so there is not room for delays or disruption of the voting process. It must be all systems go when polling stations are opened on 31 July.
It is imperative to do dress rehearsals days before the actual polling to ensure that our systems are up and running. We want to once again call on Zec to ensure no one is disenfranchised during the voting process on 31 July.
Online Reporter