Okay so we’ve had some long days and long nights in the run up to this election. How have we kept going? Well, in addition to the camaraderie of friends and cocktails, we’ve also eaten ten zillion Haribo strawbs. All the while we remain pimple free, and Defiant.

From the International Crisis Group:

A return to protracted political crisis, and possibly extensive violence, is likely as Zimbabwe holds elections on 31 July. Conditions for a free and fair vote do not exist.

In its latest briefing, Zimbabwe’s Elections: Mugabe’s Last Stand, the International Crisis Group examines Wednesday’s presidential, parliamentary and local elections. With the voters roll in shambles, security forces unreformed, the media grossly imbalanced, the electoral commission ill-prepared and allegations of rigging pervasive, it is likely they will be so deeply flawed, or the results so sharply contested, that they will usher in an exacerbated crisis.

The briefing’s major findings and recommendations are:

President Robert Mugabe, at 89 years old and with 33 years at the helm, seeks to ensure his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) regains full control of government before embarking on a fraught succession process. Out-manoeuvring both the two rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), ZANU-PF hardliners, supported by the president, secured a Constitutional Court ruling that confirmed the premature election date, shutting down any prospects of necessary reform

MDC formations favoured a later date but had to participate, as a boycott would have been counter-productive. The opposition parties feel they must demonstrate they retain popular support.

ZANU-PF has a strong resource advantage in the campaign. The two MDC formations have struggled to raise money but are relatively well organised. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T believes it can win the presidency but fears the electoral commission is being undermined from within and cannot deliver a free and credible electoral process.

SADC and the African Union (AU), the only outside entities with sufficient standing, self-interest and on-ground presence to have a chance of managing a potentially explosive situation, face severe credibility tests. They must avoid a narrow, technical approach. If the vote is deeply flawed, they should declare it illegitimate and press for a re-run after several months of careful preparation, or, if that is not possible, facilitate negotiation of a compromise acceptable to the major parties. Strong diplomacy will be needed to forestall violence if the presidential contest moves to a run-off in conditions like 2008, or, if President Mugabe loses at any stage, to ensure a smooth transition.

“Five years on from the violence and chaos that the flawed 2008 elections led to, Zimbabwe’s main political actors each retain substantial national support and a claim to exercise primary responsibility for the nation’s future”, says Trevor Maisiri, Crisis Group’s Southern Africa Senior Analyst. “However, they have made little if any genuine progress toward the mutual trust, or at least tolerance, that might enable them to agree on a solution to their political deadlock”.

“Major political institutions, like the European Union, that have indicated they will follow an African lead in these elections will have to make difficult choices in August”, says Piers Pigou, Southern Africa Project Director. “No policy would be free of costs, but a renewed effort to uphold basic standards would stand the best chance eventually to cure Zimbabwe’s dangerous fevers”.

Would you like to read the full report? Use this link to get it all

Source: International Crisis Group

From Kubatana subscriber:

How many of us know what our X means? I would not be surprised if the majority of Zimbos just put an X because they just liked the ‘’jongwe’’ symbol or very red colour on the other side, for example. I once believed that the country houses  highly learned urban dwellers who would  always strive to make intelligent choices. I was by the shops yesterday when l overheard a group discussing their voting experience. The conversation proved very interesting to me and also raised some few IQ questions. One guy confidently said ‘’aaa,ini ndagoisa X but ndashaya kana zita rimwe randaziva pemaparliament nemacouncilor”. This translates to ‘l have just selected an aspiring councilor and parliamentary candidate whose name l do not even know.’ The rest of the guys to my surprise replied , ‘ii kana neniwo’. Why would anyone choose a very alien candidate to represent their interests? Remember the constitution states that the successful representative would be taking care of us for the next five years? Why would anyone entrust our needs with somebody unfamiliar? Why would anybody select an aspiring candidate whose name is not registered in their memory lane?

As Zimbabweans went to the polls for the 31 July Harmonised Election, we asked them to tell us where they were and what they were seeing in their areas. We received hundreds of responses, which we’ve shared at our crowdmap here. Some of those responses which we couldn’t map are below.

In general, the feedback we received was that voting itself was peaceful and calm, but that in some places the queues were long and moved very slowly. Some voters complained that ballot papers were faint and it was difficult to make out candidates, particularly in dim lighting.

• Voted well but the police are not allowing to talk to people on the line after you have voted.
• l voted at Gaika primary school everythng is well by then.
• Evrything is going peacifully. We have finished it.
• No enough light in voting booths to see clearly. Tsvangirai’s image and symbol too small compared to Ncube’s MDC.
• My friend renounced her S.A. Citizenship officially but her name not appearing in the role inspite of having voted in the recent referendum and in the last election ! Now name inexplicably missing !
• Done. Time in queue 1hr 15 min.
• Vote is on smoothly no cheating
• Now everything is ok
• Good so far
• I feel quite sad, having given up my Zim passport many years ago so i can nt vote 4 the country i love. My friend took 2.5hrs to vote..
• The process was too slow.Mostly young and middle aged people were voting excitedly. Peace was prevailing.
• Many people are saying they don’t want a runoff this time.Some have travelled distances to areas where they are registered voters.
• Didnt expect such an excellent service, really! I got there at 11am and within one and half hrs im done! Everything done peaceful.They proved us wrong.
• Which votes are counted for the list of candidates for the senate? There was no ballot paper for the senate
• I am at Spaceman shops open centre, it’s not moving pliz. I suspect those go slow tactic. can u tell those voters queueing there to go to kundai primary sch. the queue is moving like hell pliz.
• Have already casted, queue was short but slow service delivery. Delimitation of constituencies confusing.
• Voting going on well
• Rocked the vote al ok
• Ques are now all over. Silent voting, emagine.
• Peaceful just like a weekend
• There are going wel there is peace now
• Its now very frustrating bcoz its now moving at a snail speed. I hv got on the line at 730am & it now seems i will hv 2hrs more to cast my vote.
• Im at Mafakela Polling station as a agent people so far abt 480 voted
• Did cast my vote at 0758 the situation is ok,
• We will not manage, position thousand plus. Reg at no 3 hundred smthing.
• Pace is very slow since early morning we are hardly standing in queue its so tough.
• Females at my polling station. I believe the same might be true of the other station on the opposite block. The que on my station has now disapeared as at 11.45 as almost all pple have been served
• Voting is going well peace full,but the voters roll seems to be in shambles .in some polling stations new voters names are not being found and names of people who transferred ten years back still appear.
• Pliz tell Zimbabwean to look careful 4 the candidate they want becoz ballot papers a of poor quilty
• Ye! Gud going what an atmosphere. We feel the winds of change. We need change
• Its okay. Have voted already.
• Some polling station a 2 dark and balot peper a 2 small if yr go on the light yr can see yr candidate
• I at Murahwa Polling Satatoin. The line is going in good way New bigning New Zimbabwe.
• Rocking the vote
• At dema polling station the voting is peaceful lot of youngstars ready to cast change imminent
• Nice but they are delaying
• Everything looks like my side has more people, anyway lets not talk more wait and see ?
• I voted today
• Its slow. Checking of voters roll taking too long
• Ok everyone is vote in free
• It is a day that god shoud bles
• Yes new gvt coz present
• All fine!
• So far so good
• Things are tough people are being sent home .names not found
• I am at chaka bussiness center voting is going on very well.
• We are not happy we are seeing security agents who stare at you. Ward 17
• Just like 28 March 2008
• Everything is going well pple still vote
• I cast my vote in peace
• I voted around 0713am hwevr pple dnt actual express their views bcz of fear intemedation bcz one big political party knw that it dsnt hve support at al
• Its okay
• Yes becoz time is now
• It seems voting is going on very well. I cast my vote around 9am after joing the single queue (male & female were not separated) at around 5.30am with clo
• The day and the voting is cool.pple a exercising their rigts
• Zimbabwe needs a new government Bcoz the current one is selfish.. does not have people at heart, is cruel to it’s people, is are not democratic,people in it are wealth looters & they don’t respect the will of the people..
• Is it party of polling officer to write names of all voters in exercise book
• Everything is okay
• The is nice for now keep watching
• Iam at glen forest school its so nice no problem
• Long queues at Patchway primary. I’m on line to vote since 8Am. I’m tired of standing. Maybe iw cast my vote in an hours time from now. Order there but line moving slowly
• Going good no noise
• Cool this is zimbabwe
• Am impressed with the turnover and patients of people at Chirundazi polling station ward 3. Am still on the que and hoping to be served in the next hour.
• Iam IN aqueue to vote iam seeing many people voting.
• THE VOTING IS GOING WELL,NO TOITOI,NO INITIMIDATION BUT SOME AREAS IS RAIN AND COLD.
• Mat south lots of enthusiasm
• I am really disppointed after spending 1h30m to make a positive change only to be told that my name is not on the voters roll. What a shame on zec
• At masvori high chiundura6 45q mid q vibrant voter trafic pipol eager vol to incriz as it gets wom chily wether
• I’m happy and i know this is the begining of my life my dream has come true
• The silence looks like an important person is dead let alone crowding at one polling station in wd 13 in 07.
  I’ve casted mine no challenges.
• Vote is running smoothly if fair we all we vote for change
• We have voted we want him to go tomorrow
• Voting went well no violence by two pm ps were empty
• In our area the day is calm though voters vow 4 a change
• In e morning e turn out was high and Violent Free
• I saw uniformed ZRP  WHO VOTED TODAY.WHERE IS THE PROOF THAT THEY DIDNT VOTE DURING THE SPECIAL VOTE & THEY ARE NOW DOING IT FOR THE SECOND TIME
• It was so good
• All is fine people are doing well the youths are highly participating in the process
• Most of the people were turned away without voting simply becoz they registered to vote after the 10TH Of july.why then were they allowed 2 register then?
• After casting our votes, some ZANU PF leaders were waiting just some 50 metres away writting for those voted for ZANU PF( those were the ward  and  cell leaders).
• Voting is fantastic today i am happy i cast my vote.
• The ink used is washable why?
• Voting was nice l thnk we ar going t hav ne ZiM
• Soidiers police have voted again
• Well i voted for new zimbawe today, but so many question left unanswered , how can the so called special vote 40 000 pple given two good days to vote whilist 6;4 million is given a day to vote
• I think I did the tight thing mmmmmm
• Changara const u are required to surrender your name
• Many youths did not see their names in the voters roll.
• Whyz tht gondo harishayi is in charge not real constable in all polling stations, i suspect irregularities .And some fellows’ names could not  be found why ?
•  I am fine  voting was going well and together We can Make it
• Good and nice
• I dont see anthing bad sofar if continues licke that it will be better.
• We are waiting for the results, Yes need diversity
• Everything is good!
• Here the votes were peaceful,only that the number of people returned home without voting was too high-do you have latest information about the results?
• What is happening on the ground is people were systematicaly told to pretend as if they are blind or as if they do not know what to do during voting so as to be assisted by sabhuku in rural areas, in towns like Rusape to be assisted by a strong zanu pf member, it was a systematicaly arranged silent harrasment
• Many rural areas were already given a date for a run off  to make them aware that if they do not vote for zanu pf  yesterday they are going to be infor it like the 2008 run off ,the will  of the people is not going to be reflected i tell you
• My side was better no violence
• How many observers watched every step of the counting? If thet didn’t they shouldn’t sign the returns form
• Fine
• Thank u Kubatana I can’t go without u.I managed to vote yesterday peacefully bt in my locality they was a men who was attacked from polls
• Joined the voting queue @ 1019 hrs and had to cast my vote @ 1224 hrs everthing was ok
• At last  from 5:20AM  i have  managed to cast my precious vote at 1700hrs
• I am an agent at Magadzire polling station voting is peacefully

Change is needed, all around.

Usually its the MDC posters that are torn down.

Photo: Ranga Mberi