ZIMBABWE:Election monitors are challenging the electoral commission over evidence of rigging, writes BILL CORCORAN
MORE THAN 8,450 non-existent Zimbabweans were registered to vote in Saturday's general election under a deserted strip of land where no one lives in a northern Harare constituency, an election observer group has claimed.
The charge by the Pan African Parliament (PAP), one of the African observer groups invited to monitor Zimbabwe's elections, has added significant weight to the allegations that President Robert Mugabe's government is intent on rigging the election in his favour.
Before voters went to the polls at the weekend, opposition groups opposing Mugabe's attempts to secure a sixth term in office had alleged the production of over nine million ballot papers to facilitate 5.9 million registered voters was evidence that vote rigging was on the cards.
The revelation of the extra ballot papers and a plan to count all the presidential votes at a central command centre, rather than at the 11,000 polling stations where they were cast, prompted Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai to threaten a withdrawal from the electoral process. Tsvangirai went on to describe the voters' roll as "a shambles" and said independent investigations revealed that in some instances football fields and empty housing lots were used as addresses for fictional voters.
Last week Nkosana Moyo, the campaign co-ordinator for Mugabe's other presidential rival Simba Makoni, weighed in behind the Movement for Democratic Change's allegations, insisting the elections were "never meant to be an even playing field".
"In the urban areas, there isn't enough polling stations and again, this is just a manipulation of the system because Zanu [ -PF] knows that their support is not in the urban areas. They've made it pretty impossible for people to access voting points and go through in the hours allocated.
"To go through the complex system, each voter would have to go through the system in about 20 seconds . . . this is a clear impossibility . . . these things have been structured.
"Where Zanu is not strong, some people are not going to have a chance to express their wishes," Moyo told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
However, Mugabe has repeatedly denied his government was intent upon rigging the presidential and parliamentary elections. As he cast his vote early on Saturday morning the 84-year-old Mugabe said his party would never stoop to something like vote rigging to ensure that it was returned to Zimbabwe's corridors of power.
"We are not in the habit of rigging . . . We don't rig elections. I cannot sleep with my conscience if I have rigged," he said.
However, the head of PAP, Marwick Khumalo, told local reporters: "It has been brought to our attention that out of the 24,678 registered voters more than 8,450 have been registered under block 081083 . . . which is a deserted land with a few scattered wooden sheds."
In a letter to the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC), the body charged with organising the electoral process and ensuring it passes off smoothly, Khumalo said: "Taking into account that there have been a lot of complaints from opposition political parties regarding the fact that ZEC has printed approximately 50 per cent more ballot papers than the number of registered voters, the mission would like to request that ZEC clarifies these claims at the earliest of its convenience."
Yesterday further concerns over the legitimacy of the electoral process were raised by observers when the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission could not be reached to respond to the most recent allegation of vote rigging in Harare.
