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Zimbabwe: 'Vote Recount to Take Longer'
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
21 April 2008
Posted to the web 21 April 2008
Harare
RECOUNTING of votes in 23 constituencies might take longer than the three days initially projected, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has said.
ZEC deputy chief elections officer responsible for operations Mr Utloile Silaigwana said the election body's preliminary assessment had indicated that the process might take longer than originally anticipated as there was a lot of work involved.
Reports from Mashonaland West, Matabeleland and Masvingo indicated that the recounting process started well with all political parties involved including the MDC-T, despite denials by the party's leadership.
"Recounting is going on well and all political parties are represented by their election agents. There are signs that the counting might take longer than the three days we had projected," Mr Silaigwana said.
"The agents are mostly influencing the delay because they are raising issues which they would want attended to and clarified.
"I am still to get a full report on what is happening from across all the 23 constituencies, but that is our preliminary assessment so far."
He said in Goromonzi West five wards out of eight had been completed and he had by last night not yet received any reports of a major hiccup arising from the recount.
At least one ward had been completed out of eight in Zvimba North when The Herald visited Murombedzi Government Complex yesterday afternoon.
The provincial election officer, Mr Michael Guzha, said counting was going on well and by late afternoon counting for the second ward had started.
The Herald saw chief election agents for both Zanu-PF and the MDC-T, both of whom declined to comment on progress.
In Masvingo, MDC-T polling agents became part of the process yesterday although one of the party's top officials said they were simply playing a monitoring role.
"We have disengaged from the process (recounting), but we are merely playing a monitoring role to see how the process proceeds," he said, preferring anonymity.
Reports from Bulawayo also indicated that MDC-T had polling agents on the ground despite denials by the party's spokesperson Nelson Chamisa.
The Matabeleland North provincial election officer, Mr Mark Ndlovu, confirmed that MDC-T was represented.
He described some MDC-T election agents' threat to boycott the recount as a "short walkout".
Chamisa denied that his party was participating in the recount despite being told that the party's vehicle bearing its logo was seen at Murombedzi Government Complex with officials from the party participating.
"The national executive committee of the party made a resolution that we will not participate in the recount or run-off. We have zero confidence in ZEC because we believe that it is an extension of Zanu-PF, so why should we participate in the recount?" said Chamisa.
When told that The Herald was on the ground and had seen officials from his party participating, Chamisa said: "You might have been on the ground, but on the wrong ground."
Mr Silaigwana said the MDC-T was represented in all the 23 constituencies and castigated Chamisa for "misleading people".
"In all the 23 constituencies that are being recounted, the MDC-T is represented and all the concerns they have raised have been attended to their satisfaction, including those concerns raised by Zanu-PF, paving way for the recount to begin."
He said one of the issues raised by both parties was the claim that the ballot boxes had been tampered with.
"We told the election agents that the election material they were referring to were cardboard boxes containing accessories like pairs of scissors and so forth, and not the translucent boxes and they understood our explanation and counting started," he said.
In Masvingo yesterday, recounting started at a snail's pace with preliminary estimates pointing to the completion of the process by end of this week.
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On Saturday, the process started around 2pm in Masvingo West and Central constituencies because of the meticulous verification process, among other logistical requirements.
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