Concern over delay in accrediting monitors

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has expressed concern at the slow accreditation of election monitors from civil society organisations. The NGO said it was concerned that accreditation for civil society monitors in the second city of Bulawayo had been delayed until Friday. However, the statutory Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) this week started deploying 30,000 election monitors around the country, all drawn from the civil service. The poll is to be held on 31 March. ZESN national director Rindai Chipfunde told IRIN that most of their previous concerns, including the absence of constituency maps and problems of lighting at rural polling stations, were being addressed following consultations with government. She, however, expressed concern at the slow rate of accreditation of civil society monitors, adding that it would affect their work as they could be deployed much latter than others. ZESN had trained 6,500 election monitors for the poll. "Most of our earlier concerns have been addressed but we are still worried about the slow accreditation of monitors. The ESC has already started deploying its monitors but civil society organisations have to wait. Such delays can affect the efficiency of the monitoring process," said Chipfunde. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi said the party was also worried about the high density of polling stations in the rural areas compared to the urban areas. Rural areas are traditionally ruling ZANU-PF party strongholds. He also dismissed government assertions that the number of registered voters per constituency influenced the density of polling stations. The government has increased the number of polling stations from 5,000 in the last two elections to 8,227 for the coming polls. Justice George Chiweshe, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) told IRIN that constituency maps were still being distributed. He added that all would be ready by Monday next week. He also sought to allay concerns over security and lighting problems in remote locations, adding that the state had agreed to provide sufficient security at polling stations. "The government has ordered many candles and lanterns will be sourced from all government departments. The police are there to ensure that the polling stations are protected. So there is no cause for fear," said Chiweshe. Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said all preparations were on course. He said 43,600 out of the 50,000 translucent ballot boxes ordered from China were already in the country. He said the remainder could arrive anytime and would be taken to the polling centres immediately. The run-up to the elections has been characterised by civil society and opposition allegations that they would not be free and fair, as they alleged that the government had failed to fully comply with the Southern Africa Development Community guidelines on democratic elections.