THE MDC-T has taken a jibe at Zanu PF, saying its incessant refusal to allow for a forensic audit of the just-ended elections confirmed fears that the party was aware it had rigged the polls.
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Speaking during a post-election public debate in Harare on Thursday, MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said Zanu PF has been unsettled by calls for an audit of the electoral documents, adding the party feared forensic checks could open a can of worms and expose its electoral rigging mechanisms.
“What does Zanu PF lose if the audit of the election is done?” asked Mwonzora, amid applause from the audience.
“Why is there fear of the audit? Is there something wrong?”
Mwonzora lauded Botswana for urging the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to demand an audit of Zimbabwe’s elections.
The MDC-T has dismissed the election results as a farce and appealed to local courts and Sadc seeking nullification of Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe’s victory.
Addressing the same meeting, Zanu PF representative Paul Mangwana said Botswana should not be taken seriously as the neighbouring country was known to be “hostile to Zimbabwe”.
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Mangwana also said the absence of a voters’ roll was not an excuse to dismiss the elections as not credible.
“A voters’ roll can never be perfect . . . we have managed to be advanced in birth registration, but not registration of deaths so there will be names of dead people in the voters’ roll,” said Mangwana.
“But I have not heard of anyone who has found a dead person who voted. The mere existence of a dead person’s name on the voters’ roll is not evidence which you can rely on to challenge the outcome of elections. In 1980, I voted in elections in the absence of the voters’ roll and the elections were credible.”
But a representative of the Elections Resource Centre, Tawanda Chimhini, maintained a “clean” voters’ roll was a legal requirement for a credible election and there was no need to be “secretive” about it.
Mwonzora said failure by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to give contesting political parties the voters’ roll on time compromised the polls.
“It should be made available to the public. Accuracy and transparency relating to the voters’ roll are essential for a credible election. The voters’ roll is important as it is the principal document of any election.”
