It Is Impossible To Rig Elections Says ZEC Commissioner

Joyce Kazembe, one of the commissioners from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was booed and heckled after she claimed that elections are impossible to rig in Zimbabwe. Kazembe made the remarks at a panel discussion at the 50-50 Advocacy Campaign and Women’s Manifesto Launch in Harare. Kazembe said,

We are often accused of rigging, but it is not possible to rig elections.

I can tell you within the polling station we have representatives of political parties, observers and the media as well as civil society, so it is impossible to rig elections.

However, critics often point to the 2008 harmonised elections which they allege clearly shows that ZEC was complicit in the rigging of elections. In 2008, the results of the elections were delayed by 6 weeks after then ZEC chairperson George Chiweshe claimed that the electoral body was conducting “meticulous verification.” When the results were finally announced the presidential election had to go for a run-off after late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai had defeated the incumbent Robert Mugabe.  Tsvangirai later withdrew from the run-off citing egregious violence against his supporters.

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