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WORLD NEWS Thursday 12 July 2018

The case of the 141-year-old voter: Zimbabwe ballot at risk

By FARAI MUTSAKA The commission has said
Associated Press any mistakes in the roll are
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — being corrected. The case
The world’s oldest person is of the single address with
141 years of age and lives more than 100 registered
in Zimbabwe. Not far be- voters “is in fact a church
hind is a 134-year-old, also shrine with 122 voters,”
in Zimbabwe. At least that’s Chigumba said.
according to the country’s Winning confidence in the
voters’ roll, which has come remaining weeks before
under sharp scrutiny ahead the vote will be a chal-
of the July 30 election, the lenge. According to a
first in decades without survey released over the
longtime leader Robert weekend by the Zimbabwe
Mugabe. Council of Churches, 58
The main opposition party percent of registered voters
has called the voters’ roll do not trust the elections
deeply flawed and the commission. The churches
most prominent sign that surveyed more than 1,600
the election’s credibility people from Bulawayo, an
is at risk. On Wednesday, opposition stronghold, and
thousands of people ral- Midlands province, which
lied in the capital, Harare, has a mix of opposition and
to call for more transpar- Thousands of opposition party supporters march on the streets of Harare, Wednesday, July 11, ruling party supporters.
ency, dancing and waving 2018. While Mugabe is gone, “the
signs saying “No reforms, no Associated Press regime remains,” said Mun-
elections.” day, accusing the election fired as a result of a ruling Priscilla Chigumba, has yaradzi Gwisai, a political
While President Emmerson commission, the military party feud, is under pres- rebuffed the opposition’s analyst and law lecturer at
Mnangagwa, who took and Mnangagwa of trying sure to deliver a free and demands, which include the University of Zimbabwe.
power when Mugabe was to rig the vote. Chamisa is fair election as a key step in touching the ballot pa- “If anything, the hard men
pressured to step down in in a coalition with several lifting years of international per or examining it closely. and hard women of that
November, and the elec- smaller parties that also sanctions. Party representatives were regime are the ones who
tion commission have took part in the rally, deliv- Zimbabwe’s past elections allowed to view the ballot have taken power and
pledged a free and fair ering a petition with their have been marked by ac- printing process from a dis- they are now in charge, so
election, the issues with the demands to the election cusations of violence and tance last month, she said. very little has changed.”q
voters’ roll have many wor- commission’s office. fraud. Mugabe banned People had to watch from
ried that Zimbabwe’s gov- “Next time we hold a dem- Western election observ- about 10 meters away, said
ernment is failing to break onstration, no one is go- ers but Mnangagwa has another opposition candi-
with a long past of alleged ing back home until our welcomed them for the date, Noah Manyika.
election fraud. demands are met. We will first time in almost two de- Political parties physically
The strikingly old voters are camp here,” Chamisa said. cades. Observers from the inspecting the ballot pa-
just one concern. The vot- The opposition’s suspicions European Union and Unit- per is unlawful, Chigumba,
ers’ roll also shows more extend to the ballots’ print- ed States have raised con- a former High Court judge,
than 100 people registered ing, storage, design and cerns that are similar to the told reporters on Monday,
at a single address and has even paper quality. opposition’s although, in calling the opposition de-
multiple people sharing a Confidence in the election a break from the past, this mands “an abuse of the
single ID number, accord- has run so low that the op- year’s election has been right to transparency.”
ing to the main opposi- position encourages its sup- largely free of violence. The election commission
tion’s chief election agent, porters to carry their own Mnangagwa, his ruling chairwoman also has de-
Jameson Timba. pens into the voting booths ZANU-PF party and the nied problems with the vot-
“We are not going to com- because they don’t trust election commission are ers’ roll, which was released
promise,” main opposition the ones provided. defending the credibility to opposition parties and
leader Nelson Chamisa Mnangagwa, a longtime of the vote. The electoral the public only after pres-
told the crowd on Wednes- ally of Mugabe until he was commission chairwoman, sure and a court ruling.