News / National
'Two days not enough for Special voting,' says Charamba
16 Jul 2013 at 08:10hrs | Views
Police spokesperson Charity Charamba has conceded that two days were not enough for the voting.
"Indications on the ground are that it is now clear that members and officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police have been unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote," she said.
Charamba refused to blame election organisers for the delays, denouncing instead Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change for in-fighting between dissident election candidates.
"The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was therefore unable to print ballot papers as they did not have the final list of candidates," she said.
Security chiefs openly support Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party, and have blasted Tsvangirai as a stooge of the West.
The security forces, which fall under Mugabe's control, have in the past been accused of rights abuses and intimidating political opponents.
Local election monitors meanwhile called on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to extend early voting for thousands of police officers, which started on Sunday but was marred by chaos.
Polling stations opened late and many lacked indelible ink, stamps, voter rolls and ballot papers and boxes.
"The process continues to be disorganised, an indication that ZEC was unprepared to conduct the special voting process," said Zimbabwe Election Support Network chair Solomon Zwana.
"Indications on the ground are that it is now clear that members and officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police have been unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote," she said.
Charamba refused to blame election organisers for the delays, denouncing instead Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change for in-fighting between dissident election candidates.
"The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was therefore unable to print ballot papers as they did not have the final list of candidates," she said.
The security forces, which fall under Mugabe's control, have in the past been accused of rights abuses and intimidating political opponents.
Local election monitors meanwhile called on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to extend early voting for thousands of police officers, which started on Sunday but was marred by chaos.
Polling stations opened late and many lacked indelible ink, stamps, voter rolls and ballot papers and boxes.
"The process continues to be disorganised, an indication that ZEC was unprepared to conduct the special voting process," said Zimbabwe Election Support Network chair Solomon Zwana.
Source - AFP
