Serious irregularities in Zim Poll
Reports from the DA's election observers in Zimbabwe, which form part of the SADC delegation, confirm observations from civil society that the country's election was marred with serious irregularities, due to an incorrect voters' roll.
According to one of our observers, people were also allowed to vote using registration slips without actually being on the voters' roll which casts doubts on the integrity of the voting process. In some instances, in Mashonaland West, East and Central, voters were being frogmarched to voting for ZANU-PF by army generals.
The DA awaits the report of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Friday and we urge them to take into consideration observations made by all stakeholders, including civil society.
Although election observers are reporting peaceful and smooth elections, this does not take away from the fact that there have been numerous irregularities, and that this election did not take place on even ground.
An audit report from the Research and Advocacy Unit highlighted irregularities with the voters' roll before Wednesday's vote. Key concerns raised in this report were that more rural than urban voters had been registered and certain constituencies had more registered voters than inhabitants. This was further highlighted by the Zimbabwean Election Support Network today.
The urban voting irregularities became evident during elections yesterday with reports of registered voters being turned away at urban voting stations because their names were not on the roll. The urban areas are considered a Movement for Democratic Change stronghold.
These elections should not have taken place without a transparent and updated voters' roll. All parties should have been provided with access to the roll to avoid any manipulation. As a result of these problems relating to the voters' roll - the keystone of any election - the process was fundamentally flawed.
This calls into question whether the result of the elections will truly be a democratic reflection of the will of the people.
Statement issued by Ian Davidson MP, DA Shadow Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, August 1 2013
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