Chamisa wants ZEC to be disbanded

CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) president, Nelson Chamisa, has blasted the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for refusing to avail a copy of the voters roll to be used in Saturday's by-elections, saying the commission does not have the capacity to run a fair election and should be disbanded if it continues to favour the ruling party Zanu-PF.

The country is bracing legislative and municipal by-elections set for Saturday.

ZEC has been under immense pressure from opposition parties and the civil society following the discovery of anomalies on the voters roll, which raised fears the electoral management body was plotting to rig the poll in favour of Zanu-PF.

Addressing thousands of CCC supporters in Epworth, Harare Thursday, Chamisa said by refusing with the voters roll, ZEC showed it was biased against his party.

"The elections are here, we have seen what ZEC is doing, it has proved that they are not ready to run a general election," Chamisa said.

"We see that they have not availed the voters roll that is supposed to be availed. We see that they have not passed the critical test that they are supposed to pass; the integrity test, the professionalism test, the accountability test, the constitutionality test, but more importantly they have to pass this test of being non-partisan," he told the animated crowd.

"ZEC needs to provide a level playing field for all players and should not be used as an extension of Zanu-PF. ZEC does not mean Zanu-PF electoral commission or Zanu-PF electoral committee. ZEC should be fair and allow transparency which should reflect the will of the people. It should not be an extension of the Zanu-PF," said Chamisa.

"Zanu-PF is an outgoing party but it has managed to stay in power with the assistance of ZEC. We are watching ZEC closely, the by-election will be a test to see if they are willing to be objective, but if they rig the elections, we have the right as citizens to demand that ZEC must be disbanded."

He added: "Players have a right to say this referee cannot continue refereeing. If ZEC chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba continues to favour Zanu-PF, we have the right to fire her from that position."