News / National
MDC-T will only lose a stolen election, says Magaisa
26 Jul 2013 at 03:22hrs | Views
Dr Alex Magaisa
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's advisor, Alex Magaisa says the only way the MDC is going to lose next week's elections is if they are stolen.
"The MDC-T is going to win, we are not thinking of any other possibility. The only way for us to lose is only if someone steals the poll. The people are coming out in numbers to support the party and we are confident that the vote of the people will be respected and usher in a new government."
He said rigging was a possibility but that could not work if people voted in large numbers. "The only viable mechanism to counter rigging attempts is to overwhelm the system. There is no mechanism of rigging that can overwhelm the people's vote. If the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is going to perform in the same way as the special vote, then there will be a problem. We saw that in the special vote, the voting process was slow, conducted inefficiently so as to prevent people from voting. All this was meant to frustrate people. We urge ZEC to be transparent, they must provide details on the location of the printing of ballot papers, who is printing and how many are being used. We are disappointed that all this information is not available; it raises concern about the credibility of the ZEC," he told The Financial Gazette in an interview.
Magaisa denied that his party had been found wanting in government.
"It is incorrect that the MDC-T has been found wanting. This country was brought to the ground by the disastrous policies of ZANU-PF. The only variable is that PM Tsvangirai stuck to the unity government for the people of Zimbabwe.
We have dealt decisively with corruption, by firing those people linked to corruption. We take action and ZANU-PF does not do anything like that. The MDC-T has a plan for running the country and that is the basis of everything we do, we have the jobs upliftment programme, among other economic programmes. We are not concerned about personality issues which have nothing to do with the running of the country."
"The MDC-T is going to win, we are not thinking of any other possibility. The only way for us to lose is only if someone steals the poll. The people are coming out in numbers to support the party and we are confident that the vote of the people will be respected and usher in a new government."
He said rigging was a possibility but that could not work if people voted in large numbers. "The only viable mechanism to counter rigging attempts is to overwhelm the system. There is no mechanism of rigging that can overwhelm the people's vote. If the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is going to perform in the same way as the special vote, then there will be a problem. We saw that in the special vote, the voting process was slow, conducted inefficiently so as to prevent people from voting. All this was meant to frustrate people. We urge ZEC to be transparent, they must provide details on the location of the printing of ballot papers, who is printing and how many are being used. We are disappointed that all this information is not available; it raises concern about the credibility of the ZEC," he told The Financial Gazette in an interview.
Magaisa denied that his party had been found wanting in government.
"It is incorrect that the MDC-T has been found wanting. This country was brought to the ground by the disastrous policies of ZANU-PF. The only variable is that PM Tsvangirai stuck to the unity government for the people of Zimbabwe.
We have dealt decisively with corruption, by firing those people linked to corruption. We take action and ZANU-PF does not do anything like that. The MDC-T has a plan for running the country and that is the basis of everything we do, we have the jobs upliftment programme, among other economic programmes. We are not concerned about personality issues which have nothing to do with the running of the country."
Source - fingaz
