29 March 2008
HARARE, March 29, 2008 (thezimbabwetimes.com) - The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai says it will announce election results as they arrive from the various constituencies.
This announcement is in defiance of a stern warning by the security chiefs on Friday to desist from such practice.
MDC secretary-general, Tendai Biti, said his party would announce election results in its own way once they started coming, arguing that the law does not in any way prohibit his party from doing so.
“We will announce the results through our own machinery because we have put in place our own system of doing that and we will do just that once the results start coming in,” said Biti who was addressing a press briefing held around midday in Harare.
Zimbabwe’s security chiefs on Friday threatened to crack down on any dissent or post-election violence, telling voters to stay indoors once they finished casting their votes in Saturday’s election.
Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantine Chiwenga, army commander Philip Sibanda, Air Force commander Perrence Shiri, CIO chief Happyton Bonyongwe, head of prisons Paradzayi Zimondi and police boss Augustine Chihuri told a joint press conference on Friday that the security forces were on high alert.
Many opposition supporters were hoping to camp outside the polling stations awaiting the announcement of the initial results which, according to the country’s electoral law, are supposed to be posted outside the polling stations.
But fearing an outbreak of violence, the security chiefs told voters on Friday to return to their homes once they had voted.
The security forces pointed out that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was the only authority vested with the powers of declaring the winner of any of the four elections. They said the police would deal ruthlessly with anyone claiming to have won the elections before the official ZEC pronunciation.
“The authority of counting votes and announcing the winners is vested in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in accordance with the law,” said Chihuri. “We warn anyone of such inclination that we will not tolerate any such pronouncements as they have the effect of trying to take the law into their own hands thereby fomenting disorder and mayhem. Everyone is, therefore, advised to follow the law.”
But Biti said the announcement by the security forces was a pre-emptive move meant to cow voters into submission and prevent them from rightfully claiming their full rights. He said the police should not prosecute MDC officials for announcing elections results but for misrepresenting them.
“They should only prosecute us if we misrepresent the results,” said Biti. “The results are posted outside polling stations for collection and therefore by that time they would have become public information.”
The MDC also said it would seek an immediate meeting with ZEC to complain about the alleged harassment of MDC polling agents and the huge number of voters who were being turned away at various polling stations in the capital Harare. Independent candidate was one of those turned away. He drove from polling station to polling station before he finally found his name.
Zimbabweans are voting to elect a new president, members of Parliament, senators and local government representatives.
The party spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, claimed that about 200 voters had been turned away from one polling station in the capital city.
“We will raise a complaint with ZEC immediately about these numbers but what is most tragic is that we won’t be able to follow these voters who would have been turned away even if we manage to rectify the problem,” said Chamisa.
Meanwhile, voting continued in a peaceful manner. Voters in some parts of Harare started queuing from as early as midnight to cast their vote.
ZEC says initial results of the election are expected late on Saturday evening.
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