Chamisa's CCC piles pressure for electoral reforms

OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has piled pressure on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to implement electoral reforms that guarantee credible 2023 polls.

CCC won the weekend by-elections in Kariba ward 5 and Chipinge ward 16, albeit alleged vote rigging by the ruling Zanu-PF party.

Zec has, however, since dismissed the allegations.

In a statement, CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said the by-elections were a litmus test proving that Zec was still far from meeting the requirements that guarantee credible polls.

"The electoral environment in Zimbabwe is far from free and fair," she said.

"Key recommendations by observer missions have not been implemented. The electoral playing field has become worse, very uneven as shown by the by-elections where incidents of political persecution, targeted arrests, abductions and political murders have increased exponentially.

"We continue to put the international community on notice that there is need to ensure that there are long-term observer missions in addition to short-term observers to mitigate against the electoral malpractices that are already at play."

Recently, data analysts unearthed various irregularities on the voters roll, which include people registered under the same address being registered in different wards, while thousands were removed from the roll.

Mahere demanded a credible voters roll from Zec for parties to inspect before the 2023 polls.

Zec spokesperson Japser Mangwana was not reachable for comment, but he tweeted: "From tomorrow (today), I will run threads on some allegations raised with Zec by stakeholders and also share responses."