"Pre-Election Period Has Been Marred By Hallmarks Of Elections Manipulation"

Political analyst Maxwell Saungweme has said that the July 30 elections are not going to be free and fair. He said that the period before elections had made the playing field unlevel. Speaking to Daily News, Saungweme said,

A poll is deemed free and fair after looking at the ‘freeness and fairness’ of the pre-poll period, polling days, and post-polling period.  So far, the pre-polling period has been marred by hallmarks of elections manipulation if you look just at these factors among many: opaqueness around where ballot papers are printed and how many will be printed; lack of access by now to the biometric voter registration voters’ roll by the opposition; politicisation and militarisation of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission; existence of the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act; monopolisation of public media by the ruling party and instances of voter intimidation, including the deployment of soldiers.

So to a critical mind, the factors noted above are more than enough to taint the pre-poll period as uneven and unfree and unfair. So we wait to see the shenanigans and behaviours of players during poll, during vote tabulation and announcement of results and the immediate aftermath of the announcement of the results for us to determine freeness and fairness of the whole election

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