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Only earthquake can stop Zimbabwe elections, says poll agency

Wednesday June 20 2018
chamisa

Zimbabwe's main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate Nelson Chamisa. PHOTO | AFP

By KITSEPILE NYATHI

Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has rejected calls to push the July 30 election date after the opposition protested delays in the release of the voters' register.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, will face 22 candidates among them the main opposition leader 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa in the first post-Robert Mugabe poll.

The campaigns have been largely peaceful, unlike in previous periods, but delays by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to produce the voters’ list is stoking fears that the poll may be rigged.

“The first thing to take note of is once the president has proclaimed the election date, there is nothing short of an earthquake that can stop the election,” ZEC chairperson judge Priscilla Chigumba said on Tuesday.

“So, whether candidates scrutinise the voters’ roll, whether they see anomalies in it, whatever the anomalies are, whatever legal recourse, they will not stop the election. I want that to be very clear, that is the law,” she added.

Ms Chigumba said candidates that were unhappy about the organisation of the elections were free to challenge the outcome.

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“What candidates can do for whatever reason and whatever the opinions and views are, is to use anything that they come up with to challenge any outcome of the election.”

Mr Chamisa’s MDC Alliance, a coalition of seven opposition parties, accuses ZEC of trying to rig the elections in favour of President Mnangagwa and the ruling Zanu PF by denying opponents access to the voters’ register.

“We are struggling to understand why ZEC is frustrating our attempts to access this important document,” Mr Chamisa said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Former Education minister David Coltart, a member of the MDC Alliance, said the law states that candidates must be allowed access to the voters’ roll.

The opposition early this month took to the streets demanding electoral reforms but President Mnangagwa insisted that the playing field was already level.

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