Zimbabwe opposition, civic groups raise concerns over postal voting rigging
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (ZimHRNGOForum) has flagged concerns that have been raised by the opposition and civic society groups over possible rigging within the police force via postal voting.
This comes after some security personnel who will be on national duty on August 23, 2023, participated in postal voting this week after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) sent postal ballot papers early this week to the identified officers.
In its daily harmonised election monitoring report compiled on August 15, 2023, the Forum reported that ZEC deputy chairperson Rodney Simukai Kiwa acknowledged that the commission had permitted police officers deployed outside their constituencies to participate in the postal voting system.
“In fact, ZEC started sending out postal ballots on 13 and 14 August 2023. Kiwa also went on further to add that there is no way postal voting could be monitored,” flagged the organisation. This development comes in the wake of the recently gazetted Statutory Instrument 140A by ZEC on August 3, 2023, which amended Section 75(1)(d) of the Electoral Act extending timelines of postal vote submission from August 9 to August 20, 2023, allowing the Chief Elections Officer to receive postal votes not later than three days before the voting day instead of 14 days.
The ZimHRNGOForum, on the other hand, took note of reports that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had promoted 1 500 personnel across the country.
The organisation also alluded to an observation made by the opposition that police officers were purportedly voting while being watched by their bosses.
“Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) National Spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, published a tweet on her official Twitter account indicating that police officers are reportedly being forced to vote for Zanu PF under the watch of their superiors and that no agents or observers are allowed to monitor the process,” said the ZimHRNGOForum.
“The Children of Zimbabwe War Veterans Association (COZWVA) also published a tweet on their official Twitter account which alleged that rigging was currently in progress at ZRP Rusape Headquarters where police officers were being forced to vote for Zanu PF under the watchful eye of their superiors with no observers or media to monitor the process.”
The Forum noted that COZWVA had also published a tweet showing images in which police officers in Mutare and Rusape seemingly leaked marked presidential ballot papers in favour of opposition political party CCC leader, Nelson Chamisa.
“The images clearly show that independent presidential candidate Saviour Kaskukuwere is not on the ballot paper. Further, the ballot paper shows that MDC T leader Douglas Mwonzora remains on the ballot paper despite having communicated his withdrawal from the presidential race due to the unfair treatment of his party by ZEC,” said the organisation.
“The leaked presidential ballot paper also shows that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is placed at the top on the second page. This is similar to the 2018 ballot paper which had an interesting design with five candidates on the left and six candidates on the right. The 2023 presidential ballot paper design has already raised concerns.”
