THE Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (Zesn) has poked
holes on the management of Monday’s elections although the electoral watchdog
noted that the political environment was largely calm and peaceful.
Zesn chairperson Andrew Makoni yesterday said their
preliminary report was based on a statistical sample of 750 polling stations
they visited.
“Zesn found that the political environment was largely calm
and peaceful. The ruling and opposition political parties were able to campaign
freely across the country with the MDC Alliance and Zanu PF holding the majority
of rallies during the campaign period,” the report read.
However, the electoral watchdog said although the
environment was largely peaceful, there was a bombing incident in Bulawayo that
affected the atmosphere while intimidation tactics during the voter
registration period were noted as some political activists demanded voter
registration slips.
Zesn noted that some candidates breached provisions of the
law by campaigning during the cooling off period.
The electoral watchdog said 100% of the polling stations
had all essential polling material such as ballot boxes, voting booths, ballot
papers and others while Zanu PF had 100% agents and MDC Alliance had 95%. Other
parties had less.
At least 98% of polling stations were set up in a manner
that allowed voters to mark their ballot papers in secret.
The report also noted that there was a high number of
assisted voters.
It further noted that at 3% of polling stations, there was
campaigning nearby and unauthorised persons were present in the polling
stations while 2% of polling stations recorded incidents of intimidation,
harassment or violence of which 50% targeted women.
The report noted that at most polling stations, the
presidential results were posted immediately after counting was finished, but
less frequently in Bulawayo and Matabeleland North provinces.
Most importantly, the preliminary report said an average of
70% turnout was recorded for the election.
The report highlighted that women’s participation was low,
the media environment was not friendly and that Zanu PF officials were using
State resources for campaigning and government officials speaking at campaign
events.
Traditional leaders also came under scrutiny for allegedly
supporting Zanu PF.
Zesn said it trained and deployed over 6 500 observers to
every ward, constituency, district and province of the country. The electoral
watchdog said it would release its final report after the announcement of all
results. Newsday
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