Soldiers and police officers to cast ballots in secret

By Tichaona Sibanda

Members of the country’s armed forces will this year breathe a sigh of relief as they will be able to cast their ballots in secret in the presence of presiding officers and not under the supervision of their senior officers. 

Unlike previous elections where officers on duty cast their ballots inside police, prison and army camps, this time members who apply for the special vote will use polling stations located in schools or in public areas. The special vote has replaced the postal ballot, under laws contained in the new constitution.

Any officers wishing to use this facility will have to apply to the chief elections officer and prove that they will be on duty outside their stations on the day of the election. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has set aside July 14th and 15th as dates for casting of the special vote.

In the past, armed forces members used ballots that had their force numbers printed on them, making it easy for senior officers to identify culprits who vote against their preferred candidates.

It is an open secret that all uniformed members are forced to vote for Robert Mugabe for President and ZANU PF candidates for parliamentary elections.

But under the new constitution, rules have been changed to allow confidentiality and remove the element of intimidation when dealing with the soldiers, police officers and prison guards. The changes to the law were contained in submissions made by members of the security forces during the seventh parliament.

Settlement Chikwinya, the MDC-T aspiring candidate for Mbizo in KweKwe, told SW Radio Africa that what is significant about the new set of rules is the departure of using ballots with force numbers.

‘The ballots will be sent to their respective constituencies where they are registered. The package will contain an A4 envelope with the member’s name. Inside the envelope will be three blank envelopes containing ballots for the council, parliamentary and presidential elections.

‘Once the casting is done, the members deposit the ballots to a ZEC presiding officer in the presence of candidates or chief election agents and polling agents of all political parties and independent candidates. The A4 envelope with the member’s name will be destroyed by the voter away from the polling station,’ explained Chikwinya.

Meanwhile the internal strife in ZANU PF continues, amid reports the former ruling party is cracking down on disgruntled members who filed their nomination papers as independents.

The chaos was triggered by the primary elections that left more than 100 members lodging complaints with the party and sending their members to the ZANU PF headquarters to protest.

SW Radio Africa is reliably informed that a crack team comprising senior members of the uniformed forces and party stalwarts are to visit each province and pay personal visits to the independent candidates. The team has been given until next week to finish its task.

‘The purpose of the visit is to force them to withdraw their applications, or else they will be told they face dire consequences for their actions,’ a source said.

The source told us ZANU PF could be the party that would be most happy to see an extension of the election date from July 31st, to give them time to put their house in order. SW Radio Africa