MDC fears vote-rigging
2005-03-28 22:27
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition said on Monday some 800 polling officers sent to a rural area at the weekend were turned back and accused of being opposition sympathisers, prompting fears of vote-rigging in the parliamentary elections later this week.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general Welshman Ncube said the polling officers were blocked on Sunday by a local government officer in Mudzi, about 200km northeast of the capital, who apparently told them that he "did not need polling officers from Harare".
"Sensing defeat, Zanu-PF has forced back to Harare 800 polling officers who had been deployed by the Zimbabwe Elections Commission (ZEC) to manage polling stations in Mudzi east constituency, claiming they were MDC supporters," Ncube said.
A spokesperson for the elections commission, Utloile Silaigwana, said that election officials had been dispatched to the area to investigate the incident and that a report would be issued.
The group are part of some 90 000 polling officers being deployed throughout the 8 300 voting stations across Zimbabwe ahead of the parliamentary elections on Thursday.
Ncube alleged that the ruling Zanu-PF candidate for Mudzi, Ray Kaukonde, along with other local Zanu-PF leaders, "told the polling officers they were not wanted in Mudzi because they were MDC supporters and sympathisers".
"We believe that the usual Zanu-PF machinery which will conduct the elections is geared to rig the poll and steal the people's vote," said Ncube.
The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has traditionally been seen to be strong in rural areas such as Mudzi.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party is tipped to win the vote in this week's elections, that are closely watched to see if the southern African country will adhere to regional guidelines for democratic elections.
Schoolteachers 'disenfranchised'
The MDC has meantime said some 50 000 polling officers, most of them schoolteachers who have been recruited to be polling officers will be disenfranchised this week because they have been deployed outside their constituencies where they are registered to vote.
"Teachers, just like members of the uniformed forces who have already cast their votes through the postal ballot system, also have a constitutional right to elect representatives of their choice into parliament," said the MDC in a statement.
It said the problem showed that Mugabe's government was not ensuring democratic polls.
"We view this development as another of the regime's futile attempts to steal the parliamentary elections," said the MDC.
- AFP