Security forces must stay off the running of elections- MDC-T senator

The MDC-T senator Morgan Komichi has challenged the government to make it a point that on civilian civil servants are involved in the running of future elections while the security forced must stay off the electoral process as there are fears that they are being used to rig the polls for Zanu PF.

"There are some areas which are not very clear. We are talking of the independence of the Commission in the Electoral Act. You will be coordinating the activities of the Commission and you also have a direct interest in the case that the election should favour you both as a candidate in the elections or because of your political affiliation. In that way there could be a bias and you may be found to make some partisan decisions and there could be some indirect interference in the processes of the elections," he said.

"My second contribution is that, once beaten, twice shy. We know that most of our elections have scorn poured upon them because we are told that there are some groups who are involved in the running preparation and organising of elections, such forces as the security forces, the police and the CIO. With this new law that we are now adopting, we are saying the people who are supposed to be registering the voters should come from the older people and the civil service."

Komichi said when they are talking of the civil service, were they not talking of the armed forces, the police and the CIO because as far as we are concerned, if these groups are involved in the running of the elections, are they not going to rig the elections because we would rather have the elections run by the civil servants instead of these security forces.

"You have also talked about the reforms. We need to instill confidence. We need to involve other political parties and civic organisations, both in the preparations and organisations of elections, especially on the printing of the ballot papers, because when we have had some hurdles within political parties, it means at some stages we need to involve these political parties in the printing of the ballot papers so that they know that everything is done clearly," he said.

"In the last elections we had people talking about the Nekuv system which was said to be used in the rigging of elections and when we follow the correct path we will be running our elections in a credible way, but if there is no transparency our elections will be disputed. Therefore, we need to set multiparty committees so that when we hold our elections, they will be credible. Minister, we would be very grateful if you include that in your plans."

Komichi said another bone of contention is the involvement of the Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede because other political parties always thought that he was biased and hence, he allowed the involvement of Nikuv and other actions which prejudiced the elections.

"What is worrying us is that the Registrar General's office is also involved, working hand in hand with ZEC and we are not very sure that we can trust the voter's role when these people are working as a team and yet we could not get it in the 2013 elections. Hence, we need to have a fool proof system which gives us our confidence in the operations of ZEC without the involvement of the Registrar General Mudede," he said.