MDC rigging claims calculated and misplaced

Ever since the MDC-T came to the political scene it has consistently raised unsubstantiated claims of alleged electoral rigging and insisted that all electoral results were rigged.

During Morgan Tsvangirai's time, the MDC-T sought to discredit the election process and sought wrest power through unconstitutional means of using mass uprisings, boycotts and what it eventually termed the Final March to State House. This was all in a desperate bid to circumvent the electoral route, which is the domain of the popular ZANU PF party.

So, throughout their political life, MDC-T politicians have tried all sorts of unconstitutional ways of getting into power, including training the so-called Democratic Resistance Committees (DRCs) that were supposed to mount a military insurgency to eliminate the elected ZANU PF government.

The current crop of the MDC-T leaders have not abandoned the unconstitutional route of using the masses to remove Government from power as they last week staged the so-called electoral reform demonstration, in which it wanted to 'shut down' Harare, making it ungovernable.

The opposition also continues to besmirch the electoral process in the country in a bid to avoid elections, which it knows ZANU PF will win. The plan is to present the elections as producing disputed results thus perpetuating its claims that the ZANU PF government is illegitimate.

This is despite the fact that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has brought in a new dispensation that opened up the electoral space, eliminated political violence and ushered in new electoral reforms. Because of the positive change the opposition is now freely and fearlessly campaigning in the rural areas and their manifesto launch was even covered live on ZBC, something that was unheard of during the autocratic era of Robert Mugabe.

The consistency and religiosity at which the MDC-T is playing the disputed election card brings more questions than answers to the credibility of their claims.

Some observers have rightfully pointed out that the MDC-T would only accept results of an election it wins and will continue to smear any election that is not in its favour. Given a chance the MDC-T would like to second biased officials to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to ensure its victory.

It would only allow election observers from organisations and countries that espouse its electoral cause and would oppose the participation of observers from any untrusted observers.

What comes out this is that the opposition party is not interested in a fair game. The MDC-T does not want to play by the legally established rules of the election but wants to create its self-centred rules to which it expects everyone else to observe.

The MDC-T leader Nelson Chamisa has already declared that this election will never be free and fair unless it makes him a winner. To achieve this twisted goal, the MDC-T team has resorted to raising unsubstantiated claims of a likelihood of a disputed election.

This stance has seen MDC-T claiming that ZANU PF has already activated efforts to rig the plebiscite by allegedly staffing the ZEC with state security agents who are sympathetic to its cause. It also started to make noises that ZEC should be disbanded and reconstituted as it is allegedly staffed with officials seconded by ZANU PF. To further concretise its claim of the possibility of a disputed election, the MDC-T is seeking to discredit the electoral system saying the Voters' Roll was in shambles and should be audited by external experts.

Claims are also being made that ZANU PF in cahoots with ZEC is likely to influence the acquisition of ballot papers that are printed on a phantom paper that incredulously allows the voting ink to disappear from the MDC-T slot and cascade to the ZANU PF slot.

These are all desperate attempts being made by the MDC-T to discredit the electoral process and present its results as likely to be disputed. This is all in a bid to mar a ZANU PF victory, making its likely retention of power look illegitimate.