The head of the SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM), Nevers Mumba has expressed concern over the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)’s failure to deliver ballot papers on time.
Voting was extended to 24 August at some polling stations due to delays in the delivery of ballot papers.
Addressing reporters after visiting some polling stations on Wednesday, Mumba said it was “very strange” that voting material arrived late. He said:
We are concerned about that. The ballot papers should have been here way ahead of time. That is the constitutional provision of Zimbabwe.
We were assured that material was going to be available in all the polling stations way ahead of this morning.
This is very strange for us to find out that in some polling stations, voting material came in late.
That is one aspect we are going to interrogate during this process.
ZEC acknowledged the delays but blamed the many court cases in the run-up to the elections.
Harare and Bulawayo metropolitan provinces, which are perceived opposition strongholds, were the most affected.
In Harare, only 23% of the polling stations opened on time, while in Bulawayo, 25% of the polling stations failed to open on time.
More: Pindula News