(NEWZIMBABWE) MDC-T blames Mugabe for special vote chaos
16/07/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

MDC-T has said President Robert Mugabe’s rushed election date proclamation was responsible for the chaotic manner in which special voting for security forces was carried out over the last two days.

The party claims that thousands of members of the security forces failed to vote on Sunday and Monday as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) struggled with serious logistical problems.

Chaotic scenes were the order of the day at polling stations around the country with ZEC failing to deliver voting materials on time while some prospective voters were turned away due to the shortage of ballot papers.

Frustrated police officers ended up smashing windows at Mount Pleasant Hall in Harare while riot police were called in to control the situation at Town House following stampede on Sunday.

MDC-T deputy chairperson Morgan Komichi said the problems were down to President Robert Mugabe’s unilateral proclamation of the 31st election date.

“People failed to plan, right from the President of the country himself who set the July 31 election date. He had no information to support that. He had no knowledge to support that,” Komichi told NewZimbabwe.com on Tuesday.

“Mugabe had no plan even on the paper to at least know what is required before July 31st. So you find out that the President of the country messed up, the constitutional court only endorsed the wishes of the President of the country and they also messed up.

“ZEC they failed to put the elections required resources on the ground, they failed to produce ballot papers .They also failed to produce the voters roll and they messed up on the 14th and the 15th .They stressed the police officers some of whom voted under duress.”
He warned that the chaotic scenes were likely to be repeated during harmonised elections at the end of the month.

“If the ZEC has failed to manage an election of 87 000 people what more the six million registered voters who are going to cast ballot in one day on 31 July?”Komichi asked.

The MDC-T deputy chair said the party would press for an increase in the number of polling stations to avoid a repeat of the special voting chaos.

The party has also approached the High Court seeking to have the special vote nullified arguing the 69,000 officers the ZRP said would need to vote was far higher than the 41, 000 officers who appear on the government salary register.