Former Vice President Joice Mujuru says Zimbabwe’s 2013 general elections were rigged.
Speaking to journalists in Harare soon after holding a meeting with two leaders of opposition parties trying to form a coalition with her National People’s Party, Mrs. Mujuru noted that the elections were rigged in almost the same way it was done in a parliamentary by-election held in Chiwundura communal lands, Midlands province.
She claimed that like in the 2013 general polls, indications are that there were people whose names appeared several times on the voters’ roll, an indication that the voters register is in shambles.
She said revelations by the Zimbabwe Election Center of the multiple appearance of people in the voters’ roll shows that the ruling party is allegedly working hand in hand with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to rig elections.
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo and ZEC chairperson Rita Makarau were not available for comment.
Her views were echoed by Douglas Mwonzora, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai, Gilbert Dzikiti of the Democratic Assembly for Restoration and Empowerment, and several others.
Dzikiti’s party has already endorsed Mujuru to lead a coalition of opposition parties ahead of the 2018 general polls.
The former Zimbabwean vice president is also trying to forge a coalition with former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T and the MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube.
Zimbabweans have urged opposition parties to form a strong coalition to challenge President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF in the forthcoming elections.
In the Chiwundura parliamentary by-election, a Zanu PF candidate won by over 9,000 votes in a poll boycotted by strong opposition parties like the MDC-T. Just over 10,000 people voted in the election with about 43,000 registered voters.
President Robert Mugabe is the sole Zanu PF presidential candidate in the 2018 election. He will be aged 94 at the time the election is conducted.