Radio Dialogue
By Lulu Brenda Harris
23 August 2013
Former education minister, Senator David Coltart, has spoken out on the “serious†electoral breaches of both the Constitution and Electoral Law he observed during the election period, which may shed light on concerns centering on the credibility of the just ended elections.
Speaking at the Bulawayo Press Club on Thursday, Coltart expressed reservations on the whole national electoral process saying actions leading to and on day of voting brought the whole elections into disrepute.Coltart pointed out the certain breaches that took place within his constituency, where he a lawyer by profession was contesting and wondered what happened in other areas especially in remote areas.
“I am aware of the legalities of the constitution and the electoral law, which is why i am pointing them out. These concerns have an impact on the whole national process. When i look at my own election campaign I had the best election team and highly qualified polling agents yet these breaches occurred in an urban setting what more in a rural setting,†said Coltart.
He said the electoral process was a complete violation of the constitution and a mockery of voters in constituencies and nationwide as a whole.
“Section 6 of the Constitution needed a 30 day period for an intensive voter registration but in wards three and four, where I was contesting the intensive process began after nomination court sat.
This shows the cynical way the election process was conducted. The registration centre was stuck at Lockview primary school, the most inaccessible place and some don’t even know where it is.
“The school is stuck in the middle of nowhere, not nearer the high concentration areas of Hillside, Ilanda and Woodlands. This was a deliberate ploy to make sure few people registered as soon as possible,†he said.
Coltart said the most serious breach of the electoral law was the duplication of names, concerns of dead peoples names on the voter roll, bussing in of people to polling stations but when political parties raised these concerns, they were ignored.He said the inaccessible voters roll was a key necessary planing tool, aiding candidates in studying their constituencies and demographic detail of voters.
“We went to the Supreme Court asking for the copy the electronic version of the voters roll the copy, which we were not issued with. The electronic copy is more user friendly because the paper format is long and when laid out, will take up to four rooms.
It is certainly difficult to go through it in a whim. It is like checking for double entries in a telephone directory but the supreme court denied us that.
“But in the Global Political Agreement we agreed that every candidate shall be entitled to to the voters roll. Section 21, six and seven of the electoral law says within a reasonable time every candidate must be provided a copy in electoral format of sold to on request,†said Coltart.
The presence of police officers inside the polling station was another grave violation of the Electoral Law, Coltart said.
“Section 55. 6 of the Electoral Act says a presiding officer might call in a police officer to provide order and assistance. The role of police is simply to keep law and order outside they have no other roles than that.
Section 62 says during counting of votes, the following persons and no others may be present – the presiding officer, polling officers, candidates, roving party agents and no other persons are to be involved. but there was intensive involvement of police at very single polling station they were taking notes, communicating on their radios.
“We expressed our concerns but we were just ignored. Even when counting started senior policemen were moving in and out of polling stations yet we the candidates were shut. If this happened in an urban setting what more in a rural one,†he said.
The former minister said these irregularities spoke volumes about the entire harmonised elections and that these were some of the serious breaches of the electoral law and Constitution, which Zimbabweans had worked hard for.
However, in light of these concerns, President Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s head of state, regardless of breaches made.