Ten Ways of Rigging An Election

Ten Ways of Rigging An Election

By Dumisani O. Nkomo

The country heads for historic elections in the next few months and I would like to throw a few thoughts on how elections can be rigged .It is also interesting to note that rigging is not the preserve of ZANU P.F but even some opposition parties have mastered the art as well judging from accusations from some people who lost in their parties primary elections .However this article looks at how the current system can be used to rig elections in favour of ZANU P.F which has been accused of rigging elections from as far back as 1980 .As to whether there is substance to this, is another story altogether and the subject of an entirely different article .

 

Voter Registration

Whilst on paper voter registration appears to be going on well with two phases of registration being done, voter registration  has  been done in such a manner  that registration centres are concentrated in ZANU P.F strongholds  whilst limiting numbers in opposition strongholds .This means more ZANU P.F supporters will be registered to vote in the elections

Aliens

The so called aliens will experience difficulties in practising their right to vote as it may take time for their citizenship to be regularized in the next 75 days .An early election [31 July ] or even 14 August will be too early for them to have dealt with the administrative hurdles of rectifying their new citizen status .Once again thousands of voters most of whom would have voted for the opposition will be disenfranchised  .It is a fact that most migrant labourers from Zambia and Malawi were employed in then thriving industries ,mines and the rail sector but after the economic collapse presided over by ZANU P.F  most of them will vote for the alternative to ZANU P.F

Soldiers

Many soldiers will be forced to apply for special votes which is a status usually given to members of the uniformed forces who are on duty and are not in their normal places of residence .They may be forced to vote in barracks and camps under compulsion from their superiors and if monitoring is weak they will be compelled to vote for ZANU P.F . This will swell ZANU P.F votes for both presidential and parliamentary elections

This coincides with the massive recruitment of new soldiers and policemen many of whom were previously unemployed and unemployable .Many of the new recruits may be bracketed under the category of special voters and this may result in manipulation of ballots .In the rural areas quasi police units such as the Neighbourhood Watch Committees [Ongxoza ]will be used not just to intimidate voters but  will also be compelled to vote in police camps .

Returning /Absentee Residents

Zimbabweans who are continuously  absent for a period of six  to twelve months may find themselves deleted from the voters roll and finding their way into supplementary voters’ roll which may be used for facilitating ghost voting  Zimbabweans resident in South Africa or Botswana  will be systematically frustrated at border posts resulting in few of them registering to vote or checking their names in the voters roll and consequently  in many being disenfranchised on voting day

Social Engineering

There has been in the past, massive social engineering typified by resettlement of  people to opposition strongholds  deliberately, systematically and purposefully .New ZANU P.F strongholds have been established in places such as Harare South ,Marula in Mangwe ,Insiza North ,Bubi ,Umguza just to name a few .This has been done through the creation of new settlements with the use of formal and informal processes such as resettlement ,allocation of land or stands .Urban settlements which are opposition strongholds have been a target for such activities with so called co-operatives getting stands and land  in previous opposition strongholds  .These new settlements owe their status ,rank and possessions to ZANU P.F and will vote for ZANU P.F

The population of army barracks, police camps and training depots will be swelled as a result of social engineering to boost ZANU P.F votes.

Special Voting

There remains great potential for special votes to be manipulated in favour of ZANU P.F .Special votes are usually votes cast by members of the uniformed forces after having applied to do so due the constraints of duty usually when serving members are deployed to places which are beyond their home areas. Members of the security forces may be intimidated into applying for special votes which may if monitoring is not thorough result in the voting process being skewed in favour of ZANU P.F  .Postal votes  will also be manipulated if there is poor monitoring .

Voter’s Roll

The Voter’s roll remains the single biggest potential source of rigging with allegations of ghost voters and the elimination of perceived oppossion supporters from the voters roll .This is not helped at all, as the process of maintaining the voters roll continues to fall under the office of the discredited Registrar General’s office which is seen by some as being partisan.

Security Sector

State security structures such as the old Joint Operations Command will campaign for ZANU P.F either covertly or overtly right up to ward and village level .The state security structures have in effect been fused with the structures of ZANU P.F and are being used to monitor and police activities of opposition parties and civil society organizations.

The large number of C.I.O. operatives, police and army members participating as candidates for ZANU P.F in the elections effectively means that state security organs will be manipulated to serve the interests of one political party in the elections.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Registrar General’s office

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Registrar General’s office will be populated with security officers  all with the same mandate of maintaining the political status quo .These are just a few ways in which the elections may be rigged excluding counting ,collation, tallying, ballot stuffing ,multiple voting  etc which are used in other countries where political fraudsters use sophisticated techniques  .More brute methods such as vote buying through food aid and hand outs are already being used but these will largely fail because people just consume the food and vote for the opposition in many cases

However in spite of all these machinations ZANU P.F will lose to a united front of the two M.D.C ‘S even if they do rig the elections .It must be noted that not all members of the security forces are pro ZANU P.F as noted by Baba Jukwa in one of his /her /their instalments and the plan of using the army and police to manipulate the electoral process will fail.

 

Dumisani O Nkomo is an activist and opinion leader

He can be contacted on Dumisani .nkomo@gmail.com