Tendai Biti delivers his midterm state of the economy address on July 25, 2013 in Harare/AFP
HARARE, July 29 – President Robert Mugabe’s rivals complained Monday they have not yet received a copy of the electoral roll, just two days before Zimbabweans go to the polls.
Amid suspicions the list of voters is being doctored to ensure a victory for Mugabe Wednesday, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said his Movement for Democratic Change would take legal action to obtain a copy.
“With virtually a day to go to the election, no political party in Zimbabwe other than ZANU-PF perhaps has got a copy of the final voters roll,” he told reporters.
“Our lawyers are in the process of filing a court application to actually obtain a copy of that voters roll,” said Biti.
In June, an NGO called Research and Advocacy Unit focusing on Zimbabwe politics, reported the existing voter list included around one million dead voters or people who have moved abroad, as well as over 100,000 people aged over 100 years old.
The MDC has alledged these “ghost voters” tend to back Mugabe.
Biti said the MDC, which seeks to end Mugabe’s 33 year rule, has neither received a full list of polling centres nor a count of the number of ballot papers printed for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
“We have asked for a final list of the polling stations and ZEC again has not provided us with the final list of the polling stations,” he said.
Biti also said the arrest of Morgan Komichi, the senior election organiser of Tsvangirai, at this election was meant to harass and cripple their campaign.
“By arresting Morgan Komichi you are in fact crippling the operations (of) our presidential campaign,” he said.
Biti warned that if the electoral commission announces fraudulent results, the MDC is ready to announce its own tally.
“We are not going to accept illegality again, the people of Zimbabwe want change.”
Mugabe on Sunday warned MDC presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai against announcing results before the official count.
“I can tell you in advance that if you breach the rules and you become a law breaker, the law breakers are arrested,” he said.
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