1 zimbabwe election support network [zesn] - Nehanda Radio

The Electoral Act also allows polling to be held over one or more days with polling days as
public holidays, ideally fixed to coincide with a weekend. Before polling begins, every presiding
officer has to count the number of ballot papers received at his/her polling station, and the
count is to take place in the presence of candidates, election agents and observers. However,
the number of voting compartments and ballot boxes to be provided in each polling station is no
longer fixed in the Act but left to the discretion of the presiding officer. It is however
recommended that the law should go further and require the Commission to disclose the total
number of ballot papers printed for each election.
Postal Voting
In terms of the Electoral Act, postal voting is restricted to disciplined force members and
electoral officers who will be absent from their constituencies on electoral duties, and officials
who are absent from the country on Government service, and spouses of such persons.
However, over the years, postal voting in Zimbabwe has remained controversial, shrouded in
secrecy, inaccessible to observers, riddled with allegations of intimidation, malpractice and
non-transparency. In the 27 June 2008 run-off, members of the security forces reportedly voted
in the presence, and under the directions of Commanding Officers, with juniors allegedly
instructed to vote for the ZANU PF presidential candidate or risk losing their jobs. This practice
constitutes a banal breach to the basic principles that underpin electoral practices. It is strongly
recommended that the doctrine of secrecy that is applied to other electoral processes must
also apply to postal voting. The Electoral Commission should also be given the power to
establish a system that allows Zimbabweans living outside the country to vote by post if they
are unable to return to Zimbabwe to cast their votes.
Counting of Votes and Tabulation of Poll Results
The Electoral Laws Amendment made several minor changes to the way in which votes are
counted and the results of elections are collated and announced. When the votes have been
counted at a polling station, the presiding officer will have to record them on a return and post
them up outside the polling station before sending them to the constituency elections officer.
This must be done in the presence of the candidates and their agents and will certainly go
some way towards ensuring transparency in the counting process, so long as candidates and
political parties are able to deploy agents at every polling station to witness the counting of
votes.
Procedures for Recounts
Section 67A of the Electoral Act gives candidates and political parties the right to a recount of
votes if they can satisfy the Commission that there are reasonable grounds to believe that there
was a miscount that affected the result. The Act provides that “Within forty-eight hours after a
constituency elections officer has declared a candidate to be duly elected in terms of section
66(1), any political party or candidate that contested the election in the ward or constituency
concerned may request the Commission to conduct a recount of votes in one or more of the
polling stations in the constituency.”
It also stipulates that the request for a recount made by political party or candidate be in writing
signed by an appropriate representative of the political party or candidate making the request.
The request must specifically state the number of votes believed to have been miscounted and,
if possible, how the miscount may have occurred as well as how the results of the election have
been affected by the alleged miscount.
Section 67 A [4] also stipulates that the Commission, may on its own initiative, order a recount
of votes in any polling stations if it considers there are reasonable grounds for believing that the
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