PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) can no longer be trusted to organise a free and fair election on July 31 following the chaos that characterised the first day of special voting.
Tatenda Chitagu
Tsvangirai told a packed Mucheke Stadium in Masvingo that ZEC had failed the test where it was supposed to facilitate the special vote for about 80 000 members of the armed forces and civil servants who will be on duty on July 31.
“We gave ZEC the powers to oversee a free and fair poll,” the MDC-T leader said. “But right now, the special voting exercise by the police today has not commenced as of now. “The question is, if ZEC has failed to run the special voting of about 80 000 police officers, how then can it administer a national poll?
“If ZEC fails to make available ballot boxes for the police, how then will it cope when it comes to national elections?”
High Court Judge President Justice George Chiweshe is today expected to hear a case where MDC-T is challenging the special voting exercise that began yesterday.
MDC-T has queried the number of police officerssupposed to vote during the two-day exercise that ends today.
The party says only 41 133 members of the police are eligible to vote, instead of the 69 000 approved by ZEC. MDC-T has in the past raised concerns about partisan statements by police, army and prison service commanders who openly support President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.
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However, Tsvangirai said despite the chaos surrounding election preparations, he was confident his party would win the polls.
“There is no doubt that change is coming,” he said. “The generality of the population is choosing change, so do not remain behind.
“We are going to give President Robert Mugabe his pension so that he goes home and rests until God rules on him.”
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti told the same rally that the July 31 poll could be compared to the 1980 elections.
“This is the mother of all elections and we want to give Mugabe and Zanu PF the mother of all defeats,” he said.
“This is the election to end 33 years of hunger, poverty, unemployment, high child mortality rates and put a government which cares for its people.”
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been addressing a flurry of rallies across the country, as campaigns for the polls gain momentum.
