By-election Update: CCC Leader Chamisa Says ZEC "Has Failed The Test"

Nelson Chamisa who leads the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has failed to pass various tests by failing to diligently execute its duties and responsibilities in the by-elections held this Saturday.

He made the remarks while addressing journalists soon after casting his ballot in Kuwadzana, Harare Saturday at 10 am. He said:

We are excited (to have been able to vote), but we are also disappointed because if you look at the indelible ink is not that indelible, and we have received reports across the country that ZEC has not done a perfect job. In fact, ZEC has failed to pass the different tests, the integrity test, the credibility test, the independence test, the professionalism test.

ZEC is not straight. It is corrupt. The corruption happening in this country starts with the corruption of the electoral process. Election corruption is the biggest corruption because it then cascades down to every other facet.

He also claimed there were reports of voter intimidation across the country. He added:

We heard that in Mutasa, chiefs were gathering people and instructing them to vote for specific candidates, that’s what we want to rectify. People were being told to pretend to be dumb and illiterate so that they could be assisted to vote.

Zanu PF does not believe in the liberation struggle and its ideals. It does not believe in the vote. It doesn’t believe in the freewill and the sovereign will. They believe in forcing people, frog marching people, intimidating people and coercing them to create a manufactured and engineered vote. Those are the things that led to the liberation war. So the country is not free now.

Voting is now in full swing in today’s legislative and municipal by-elections across the country with some having cast their ballot by 8 am.

In Harare, there was also a low turnout in the Highfield East and West constituencies but reports from Epworth and Harare East suggest the turnout was relatively high from early in the morning while.

In Harare Central, voting started on a low note, with only a few people voting at Avondale Primary School amid reports some names had also been moved.

I will vote anyhow. I am a registered voter. I have been voting at Queen Elizabeth since time immemorial, but my name has been moved to Avondale.

In Bulawayo, heavy rains prevented people from coming out early and at a polling station in Nkulumane, only 40 people had voted by 10 am.

More: NewZimbabwe.com