Opposition cites serious anomalies in voters’ roll

The MDC said it has been combing the electoral roll to ensure that all 120 of its candidates and the 10 people who have to nominate each of them are on the roll in the correct constituencies.

“It really is a shambles,” MDC parliamentary candidate David Coltart told reporters. “We haven’t even been able to get a copy for ourselves yet we know ZANU-PF has one.” The MDC said at the weekend that it had already found serious anomalies in the voters’ roll, including names of dead people and members of the same household listed in different constituencies. It said it would go to court over the issues if necessary.

Coltart, who said he renounced British citizenship years ago to become a Zimbabwean citizen, said he might have to go to court to prevent his candidacy from being rejected. News reports quoted foreign diplomats as saying that whites formed less than one percent of the country’s 12 million population and were therefore irrelevant in electoral influence.

Farmers and diplomats said at the weekend that police, who have been criticised for failing to stop the violence, appeared to be taking a more active role in crime prevention.