(Last Updated on May 26, 2021 by ZIMDAILY EDITOR)
The Nelson Chamisa led MDC Alliance has said it will continue pressing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission until it budges to the demands of a free, fair and credible election.
Addressing a press conference in Harare today, Clr Ian Makone, who is the Party’s secretary for elections said, the continued dithering by government and the electoral body concerning electoral processes was a cause for concern.
“The party is concerned over the lack of direct consultations with key stakeholders on these matters. The delimitation roadmap has never been directly communicated to the stakeholders, which shrouds the whole process in obscurity,” said Ian Makone.
The country has brought forward the census to 2021 to ensure delimitation of ward and constituency boundaries for electoral purposes in 2023 and reflecting the geographical spread of the population.
“The MDC Alliance appreciates the mandate of ZEC in carrying out this exercise, however, we also note that delimitation is a highly technical and complex exercise of which that the expertise is not available at ZEC, nor does ZEC have the technical competent human resource to carry out this exercise nationwide.
Mr Makone said, while the issues where not new, and that they had written to ZEC over their concerns, contested electoral outcomes have remained a challenge for Zimbabwe.
“Election outcomes have remained at the centre of the national crisis since the turn of the millennium, the party once again called on the government and the its agencies, specifically the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, to be alive to their crisis and do the right thing in line with the constitution, to ensure free, fair, credible elections,” he added.
The MDC Alliance has countlessly drawn attention to the inadequacies of the current Electoral Act as well as failures tithe ZEC to implement all measures as are consistent with the independence of an electoral body, he added.
Adding on to that, Ellen Shiriyedenga, who is the deputy secretary for elections in the MDC Alliance, also weighed in saying the right to vote needs to be respected.
“As MDC Alliance we proposed 20 principles for free, fair and credible elections. The document catalogues errors of omission and commission in the preparations for and conducts of elections, as well as in the transmission and announcement of election results,” she said.