Trust And Confidence Is Increased If People Are Involved In The Printing Of Ballot Papers: Commonwealth Tells Zec

The Commonwealth Observer Group has said that just because the electoral process is better than in the past, it does not mean that we should stop striving for perfection. Chairman of the Commonwealth Observer Group, former Ghana president John Dramani Mahama also said that in future the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) should involve stakeholders in the process of printing ballot papers in order to build confidence and trust. Addressing the media, Mahama said,

Election systems evolve and I believe that every election is better than the previous one. Even in my own experience in Ghana, every election has seen an improvement in the electoral process. So certainly, I mean, from 2002 to date it must be a vast improvement from what it was in 2002.

So yes there have been improvements, political space is much broader than it was that time, but we cannot sit…and say because it’s better than it was the last time we will not strive for perfection.

…We were discussing with the elections commission yesterday and for instance, its prerogative of the elections commission to print the ballot papers…But you increase the trust and the confidence of people if they are part of that process of printing of ballot papers. So maybe in the future, it will be helpful if the Zec involved stakeholders to make sure that in the printing they have no concerns. Otherwise then, the issue about the arrangement of the ballot will have been noticed before the ballot papers were printed.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has been taken to court by parliamentary and legal watchdog Veritas, which is trying to get the commission to be more transparent.  The matter is yet to be finalized.

Also Read:  No Demand Is Unreasonable In The Run-Up To An Election, Everyone Must Be Treated Fairly: Commonwealth

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