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Unusually large number of assisted voters in Zengeza by-election
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)
March 27, 2004

The March 27-28 Zengeza by-election kicked off today with an astonishingly large number of voters requesting to have their ballots cast on their behalf by polling officers.

Accredited supervisors and observers from ZESN reported that among those seeking to have their ballots cast on their behalf were a few elderly people with the largest number coming from young people. Those seeking to be assisted were claiming that they were illiterate, sick, had blurred vision and had unsteady hands.

According to official government reports, 159 people had been assisted to vote by 10 am on the first day of polling. At Dudzai primary school, ZESN supervisors observed a group of people being assisted to vote. Initially there were few people being assisted but the number increased steadily until a police officer allegedly under instructions from the presiding officer instructed people who wanted to be assisted to form a separate queue. When ZESN questioned the exercise, police details started vetting those intending to be assisted.

Of concern to ZESN was the heavy presence of armed soldiers and members of the police force. At Seke 1 High School, where there was commotion as people jostled to vote, a van full of armed security personnel was parked just outside the polling station. Fears were that this had the potential to instil fear among voters.

Another characteristic that could be interpreted as intimidation was the writing down of names of people and their national identity registration numbers after casting their ballots.

At Seke High 1 School, ZESN observers overheard some women telling voters that they would know which way they would have voted. At the same polling station, guidelines and instructions on how to vote were stuck on the wall with the example that voters should put their X next to the Zanu PF candidate. The poster was removed when ZESN chairman, Reginald Matchaba-Hove appeared.

At the same school, ZESN observers were allegedly asked to sign the Official Secrets Act, but they refused. They were asked to get out of the polling station. ZESN is concerned about whether there are new regulations governing elections.

Another issue that was raised was the fact that an open-air polling station was only announced on the eve of the election. Of interest was that although the polling station was announced late, it recorded a high voter turnout, the majority of whom belonged to the Apostolic Faith religious sect.

Observers also noticed that some people who had just voted were going to one/a particular house where it could not be established what they were doing.

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