MDC Bulawayo East national assembly aspirant David Coltart yesterday conceded defeat to incumbent Thabitha Khumalo of the MDC-T, although he cited irregularities in the election process.
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Coltart said he lost to Khumalo by a close margin and said the election was fraught with irregularities.
“I confirm that it appears I have lost the Bulawayo East Constituency to MDC-T’s Thabitha Khumalo, although the final official result has not been announced,” he said.
“While I obviously congratulate her and wish her well and stress that my comments are not directed against her, the entire election was fraught with serious irregularities.”
Coltart said before Wednesday’s election, he handed a letter to the head of the Sadc observer mission in Bulawayo detailing six breaches of the Electoral Law and the Constitution.
“In my view the entire election is illegal. For example, I still have not received a copy of the electronic voters’ roll, which I was entitled to and which was a key mechanism to counter rigging,” he said.
The outgoing Education minister said he became increasingly suspicious of what was going on in the seven polling stations located by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), within a 2km radius of the army’s Brady Barracks.
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“Suffice to say that the election was lost in those seven out of 40 polling stations in the constituency with results coming out of those polling stations, which bear little relation to voting patterns in them and the areas they cover in the last decade,” he said.
Coltart said it had been impossible for him to analyse voters who were resident in “these areas of concern because I do not have the voters’ roll”. He said reports that Zanu PF had dominated in Manicaland, Masvingo and Matabeleland South were a clear that the entire election was fraudulent and puts his loss into context.
“I could not understand how (President) Robert Mugabe could be so confident in his Press conference on Tuesday when his main opponent (Prime Minister) Morgan Tsvangirai had, the day before, held one of the biggest political rallies ever in his backyard,” Coltart continued.
“I was astounded to read in The Herald yesterday that Zanu PF was looking at obtaining a two thirds majority in Parliament, which defied all reasonable projections,” he said.
“It is now clear why there was this confidence. Zimbabwe has been subjected to electoral fraud on a massive scale.”
