Electoral reforms key to credible elections

Doctor Khupe is a game changer as an epoch aspiring Zimbabwean woman President. Those that are painfully marginalized  by male chauvinism and diabolic politics of patronage will find refuge through her leadership. For the first time the republic will enjoy rule of law, equal opportunities for all, integrity in government, ethical and professionalism in public service especially in local authorities, municipalities and across the entire spectrum.

Voter's roll

On the 29th of May the election date was gazetted, yet ZEC is still to publish a final and audited voters roll. This proclamation is extremely fishy and suspicious due to the fact that it was done whilst voter inspection was still in progress. It would appear that the ZANU PF government is playing its usual tricks of manipulating the voters roll. Without a clean and audited voters roll Zimbabweans should simply forget about holding a free and fair elections that can pass the test of legitimacy.

There is an uneven election ground as the system is still ignoring the abuse of women in politics due to the patriarchal nature of Zimbabwean politics. It is worrisome that there is now a perpetual intervention and inclusion of the military and security sector in national politics. In our quest to have a fair electoral process there is need of an intensive ballot audit and counting of votes soon after the election as delays might create an atmosphere of unfairness.

The military should play its constitutional role of promoting peace and protecting citizens rather than interfering in national politics. We are still challenging the composition of ZEC administration/secretariat which constitutes 15% of retired army personnel. This crop of retired army personnel also form the reserve force of the army of Zimbabwe which poses a serious conflict of interest especially now since we came out of a military managed coup.

Sub polling stations

ZEC wants to cause confusion in the whole system by introducing more polling stations when voter registration which was polling station based has already been finished. After voter registration every registered voter was assigned a polling station where they would cast their vote. During the BVR inspection people confirmed their polling stations where they are going to vote. Surprisingly, now after the exercise is over ZEC is planning on assigning voters to these 1500 new polling stations. Won't we find ourselves in a scenario where people will be turned away enmasse from their original polling stations? Could this be a tactical way of removing someone from a voters roll? Is this not a way of opening up secret polling stations that will be new and no one knows their location? MDC T will never allow these shenanigans and clandestine setting up of extra polling stations as this will cause confusion and probably duplicate polling stations where a single person can double vote as what happened in 2013.

In conclusion we are still in the same situation which necessitated  the call for reforms so having elections without reforms is a futile activity. Boycotting elections is not an option as we will just be playing into ZANU PF's plans. Constitutionalism, institutional reform, electoral reform and a diametric shift in the trajectory of governance will reign and be the order of the day if we vote President Dr Thokozani Khupe as the President of Zimbabwe.
We will ensure transparency within the fiscus, pro-policies and prioritization of basic services as stated in our B.E.S.T manifesto.

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira
MDC-T Secretary for Information and Publicity
info@mdc.org.zw
0719118783