The People’s Party of Excellence, MDC, has conducted its
Primary elections and we now have a list of our parliamentary candidates, who
will represent the MDC T Alliance in the 2018 Elections.
Our Alliance partners are fielding their candidates and we
are working closely together to field the best candidate for the area.
Negotiations are taking place among our Alliance Partners in areas where, for
instance, our candidate is weak and an alliance candidate is strong, so that a
stronger candidate will stand in such constituencies. In this process, we have
also respected the women and youth quota.
We concluded the consensus building process, and we
attended to the consensus appeals. We then moved to the next level which was
the holding of primary elections. We are pleased that our elections where
conducted by an independent commission in a very democratic way. We are pleased
as a party.
We are currently dealing with all the primary elections
appeals. The Appeals tribunal is ceased with these matters. However, the party
is investigating allegations of violence and those who are found wanting will
be penalised.
80% of the constituencies have been covered and we will be
done with all the gap constituencies by this Saturday.
Voters’ Roll Inspection
Today marks the last day of the voters’ roll inspection.
The anomalies have been glaring and telling. These anomalies justify our
deafening calls for an independent audit of the Biometric Voters’ Roll.
Reported incidences of details sent on cellphones from ZEC
not corresponding with the physical roll are worrisome. Some names are entered
correctly, but the gender is incorrect. Others have received messages
confirming their registration centres but upon physical inspection, realised
they had been posted to a different polling station, or their names were
missing completely from the roll.
We have also received reports where people are
re-registering themselves but in different wards and constituencies. A case in
point is the registration of residents of ward 45 in Harare East onto the ward
25 of Goromonzi South voters’ roll. And the commissioner of oaths to the
residential affidavits is one Terrence Mukupe whose recent notorious and
treasonous utterances that the Zanu PF regime will not accept an election
result that favours the opposition, leaves a lot to be desired.
If ZEC can not produce a clean voters’ roll, then it casts
an aspersion on the credibility of this upcoming election. Little wonder why
there was little information and voter education on inspecting the Voter’s
roll, and the refusal by ZEC to give us a copy of the provisional voters’ roll.
We demand a searchable copy of this voters’ roll so that we
are able to assist ZEC in identifying all the duplicates and fictitious names
in the current roll.
Ballot Paper Printing
We are barely a month away from the election and our demand
for an open tender system with regards to the printing of the ballot papers and
other election materials has been ignored by the Mnangagwa administration.
The MDC will not allow for the only amendment to section
22A of the Electoral Act that allows the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to
establish more polling stations for an area that has a larger voter population.
We will not accept the establishment of undesignated polling stations as this
will open the vote to manipulation.
For the avoidance of doubt, the following matters remain
outstanding and need urgent resolution:-
a. observation of the printing of the ballot papers
b. External/ Independent audit of the voters’ roll
c. Militarisation of ZEC
d. Militarisation of the electoral process
e. Diaspora Vote
f. That this election be SADC and AU guaranteed.
We demand that these and other reforms be implemented if
this country is going to have a truly free, fair and credible elections. I
thank you
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