THE presiding officer at Rutendo Primary School in Redcliff was fired yesterday after he breached the Electoral Act when he addressed voters prior to the voting process.
“We are trying to see how best we can handle it in terms of procedures. But I can confirm that he breached the Electoral Act and was fired around 1pm after we received the news,” said Mr Mkwananzi.
This was the only blemish in Midlands province as voting ended at most polling stations in time at 7PM with verification and counting starting immediately.
Official statistics on the process were not immediately available last night but 761 472 voters are registered in the province.
Midlands Provincial Elections Officer Mrs Dorcas Mpofu said they were satisfied with the process.
The province has eight districts, 29 constituencies and more than 120 wards. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)deployed 12 386 polling officers, 1 540 presiding officers to man 1 540 polling stations throughout the province.
In Gokwe South, most polling stations had long queues in the morning but they became shorter later in the afternoon.
A Chronicle news crew witnessed voting at Empress Mine turn-off polling station, St Paul’s and Mapfungautsi primary schools among other polling stations. Almost the same trend was observed in Nembudziya, Chireya and Chitekete areas in Gokwe North.
Gokwe North District elections officer Mr Pastor Chakamba said most polling stations closed at 7pm.
Voting in Chirumanzu-Zibagwe and Chirumanzu South constituencies went on smoothly with the polling stations opening as scheduled at 7am.
During the voting process, no incidents of violence were recorded at all the polling stations in the two constituencies.
A few people were turned away for bringing wrong documentation or turning up at the wrong polling station. Few people were also assisted to cast their vote because of various reasons such as illiteracy, old age and physical challenges.
Voting also went well in Mberengwa. At Mpesi in Mberengwa West people started queueing at around 6am to cast their vote with Cde Joram Gumbo, the Zanu-PF candidate for the constituency coming to join the queue and cast his vote at around 9am.
Other candidates for the constituency are Masiya Tyanai (MDC Alliance), Moyo Vincent (MRP) and Zhou Hamufadzi (PRC). At some polling stations elderly voters came riding in scotch carts.
In Mberengwa North where the candidates are Tafanana Zhou (Zanu-PF), Takavafira Zhou (MDC Alliance) and Mativenga Hove (PRC) voting went on smoothly with a number of people queueing to cast their votes late into the day.
At Vugwe polling station in Zvishavane — Runde constituency where Tafara Moyo (ZIPP), Cuthbert Mpane (Zanu-PF) and Leopold Mudisi (MDC Alliance) are the candidates, 357 had voted out of a total 451 while eight were redirected and 43 assisted for various reasons, chief among them illiteracy and poor eyesight.
Presiding officer Emmanuel Tote said voting went on very well. In Mberengwa East’s Ingezi polling station voting was still in progress at around 4pm although people were no longer coming in droves as earlier in the day.
In Zvishavane town which falls under Zvishavane-Ngezi constituency people were still coming to polling stations up to closing time. People interviewed expressed satisfaction at the way the elections were held, saying polling stations were easily accessible and the voting process was smooth.
Zanu-PF Midlands Province chairperson Engineer Daniel McKenzie Ncube said he was happy that Zec had done its deployment and distribution of the ballot paper on time which saw voting progressing smoothly.
“Voting went on smoothly and peacefully across the province. Polling stations opened at 7am sharp,” he said. Chronicle
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