Opinion / Columnist
Can 2018 flawed elections produce legitimate president - squared circle MDC have failed to comprehend
01 Jan 2019 at 16:02hrs | Views
Can a flawed and illegal election process produce a legitimate and credible result? This is the political conundrum, the squared circle, Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance have failed to comprehend and thus make complete fools of themselves each time the open their mouth!
The 2018 elections were flawed and illegal allowing Zanu PF to blatantly rig the vote. Three million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the opportunity to register and to vote in the July 2018 elections.
During his UN General Assembly trip in September 2018, just two months after the vote, President Mnangagwa admitted that government will allow Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote next elections. He did not explain why they were denied the vote in 2018 given this issue was raised before the 2013 elections!
By failing to produce a verified voters' roll and V11 forms (summary of the vote count) for all polling stations, both are legal requirements, it was impossible to verify who was on the voters' roll, who voted and how many times, etc. and it was impossible to trace where the vote allotted to each candidate came from.
"2019 is the year of rolling mass action against the illegal regime of Emmerson Mnangagwa." MDC Alliance Deputy Treasurer General Charlton Hwende said. "We voted for Nelson Chamisa and we must be prepared like the thousands of gallant Liberation struggle heroes to die defending our right to chose the President of our Choice."
"We"; who is we? We have just noted above that 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote which is more than the 2.6 million Chamisa claims voted for him. Even in his own Con-Court challenge of the result, Chamisa failed to produce all the V11 forms to account for the 2.6 million votes he is claiming. So no one can trace where the 2.6 million votes came from much less who these people are since there is no verified voters' roll.
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance friends had many golden opportunities, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. The party wasted them all for various reasons one of which was the belief they would win the elections regardless of Zanu PF's vote rigging shenanigans. It has turned out they under estimated the vote rigging shenanigans.
Even if MDC had won these flawed and illegal in 2013 and/or the 2018 elections, this would not have solved the nation's problem of rigged elections as Zanu PF or indeed MDC leaders themselves would have used the carte blanche vote rigging powers soon or latter. The idea of implementing the democratic reforms was to ensure free, fair and credible elections and MDC's position that it does not matter whether the elections are free and fair as long as they win is no different from Zanu PF's own position.
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF junta fought the war of independence to remove the white colonial oppressors but only to take their place as the nation's new oppressors. Nelson Chamisa want the nation to fight to remove the illegitimate Mnangagwa because he rigged the elections but only to take his place as the next illegitimate president. Surely, the people of Zimbabwe deserve better than this.
Yes Mnangagwa and his junta blatantly rigged the 30 July 2018 elections and therefore they do not have the democratic mandate of the people to govern. They must step down.
We are not going to force Zanu PF to step down only for MDC Alliance to take over, no. Chamisa and his MDC Alliance have no legal basis to govern since the last elections was so flawed and illegal it is nonsensical to declare anyone the winner, especially when all the contestants knew the process was flawed and illegal but participated regardless. Chamisa and his MDC Alliance must step aside.
The people of Zimbabwe must be allowed the time and space to appoint an interim administration that will be tasked to implement all the democratic reforms to guarantee free, fair and credible elections not just next time but for generations to come. All attempts by both Zanu PF and MDC Alliance members to hang on to power must be seen for what it is - holding the nation to ransom. This will not be tolerated!
The 2018 elections were flawed and illegal allowing Zanu PF to blatantly rig the vote. Three million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the opportunity to register and to vote in the July 2018 elections.
During his UN General Assembly trip in September 2018, just two months after the vote, President Mnangagwa admitted that government will allow Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote next elections. He did not explain why they were denied the vote in 2018 given this issue was raised before the 2013 elections!
By failing to produce a verified voters' roll and V11 forms (summary of the vote count) for all polling stations, both are legal requirements, it was impossible to verify who was on the voters' roll, who voted and how many times, etc. and it was impossible to trace where the vote allotted to each candidate came from.
"2019 is the year of rolling mass action against the illegal regime of Emmerson Mnangagwa." MDC Alliance Deputy Treasurer General Charlton Hwende said. "We voted for Nelson Chamisa and we must be prepared like the thousands of gallant Liberation struggle heroes to die defending our right to chose the President of our Choice."
"We"; who is we? We have just noted above that 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote which is more than the 2.6 million Chamisa claims voted for him. Even in his own Con-Court challenge of the result, Chamisa failed to produce all the V11 forms to account for the 2.6 million votes he is claiming. So no one can trace where the 2.6 million votes came from much less who these people are since there is no verified voters' roll.
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance friends had many golden opportunities, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. The party wasted them all for various reasons one of which was the belief they would win the elections regardless of Zanu PF's vote rigging shenanigans. It has turned out they under estimated the vote rigging shenanigans.
Even if MDC had won these flawed and illegal in 2013 and/or the 2018 elections, this would not have solved the nation's problem of rigged elections as Zanu PF or indeed MDC leaders themselves would have used the carte blanche vote rigging powers soon or latter. The idea of implementing the democratic reforms was to ensure free, fair and credible elections and MDC's position that it does not matter whether the elections are free and fair as long as they win is no different from Zanu PF's own position.
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF junta fought the war of independence to remove the white colonial oppressors but only to take their place as the nation's new oppressors. Nelson Chamisa want the nation to fight to remove the illegitimate Mnangagwa because he rigged the elections but only to take his place as the next illegitimate president. Surely, the people of Zimbabwe deserve better than this.
Yes Mnangagwa and his junta blatantly rigged the 30 July 2018 elections and therefore they do not have the democratic mandate of the people to govern. They must step down.
We are not going to force Zanu PF to step down only for MDC Alliance to take over, no. Chamisa and his MDC Alliance have no legal basis to govern since the last elections was so flawed and illegal it is nonsensical to declare anyone the winner, especially when all the contestants knew the process was flawed and illegal but participated regardless. Chamisa and his MDC Alliance must step aside.
The people of Zimbabwe must be allowed the time and space to appoint an interim administration that will be tasked to implement all the democratic reforms to guarantee free, fair and credible elections not just next time but for generations to come. All attempts by both Zanu PF and MDC Alliance members to hang on to power must be seen for what it is - holding the nation to ransom. This will not be tolerated!
Source - zsdemocrats.blogspot.com
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