Zimbabwe elections: Delay in voting, internet restriction cast shadow on polls

Mounting disputes over the voting process have become the early point of quarrel in Zimbabwe as polling stations opened countrywide on Wednesday for the General Election.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is seeking a second and final term. But while he voted early in the morning at Sherwood Primary School in Midlands province, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) admitted to delays of up to two hours in some stations in urban areas, attributing it to late delivery of ballot papers.

President Mnangagwa cast his ballot at a school near his home town of Kwekwe, which is about 200 kilometres from the capital Harare.

“Some polling stations did not open on time due to the late deployment of election material,” ZEC said.

“Delays in the opening have largely been caused by delays in printing of ballot paper arising from numerous court challenges. This has been the case with Harare and Bulawayo.”

Voting was supposed to start at 7am and close at 7pm local time (GMT +2 hours) but the Commission had been sued in various places after it initially refused candidature of some contenders.

ZEC said all polling stations that opened late “will remain open to cater for the period of the delay, keeping in mind that the polling station must remain open for a continuous period of at least 12 hours on opening day.”

But internet watchers on Wednesday said Zimbabwe had also restricted access to the internet as voters went about elections.

It became the 19th African country to restrict the internet during elections, according to Surfshark’s Internet Shutdown Tracker.

The country has had a degraded internet access since early this week and critics say it could make it difficult for Zimbabweans to keep informed.

“The internet stands as an indispensable component of democratic elections, enabling individuals to readily access information from diverse sources, engage in meaningful discussions with friends and family, and cultivate impartial viewpoints,” said Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, the Surfshark spokeswoman.

Fabio Massino Castaldo, the head of the European Union observer mission, said their assessments showed that voting started late in at least 30 percent of the polling stations across Zimbabwe.

There were long queues in most parts of Harare that started forming early in the morning and people were still waiting patiently to cast their votes by mid-morning.

President Mnangagwa is being challenged by 10 other candidates, including Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa who he narrowly beat in the disputed 2018 elections.

The opposition accuse the Zimbabwean ruler, who came into power in 2017 after a military coup that toppled strongman Robert Mugabe, of trying to rig the elections.

International observers complained that Zimbabwean authorities did not clear them on time to follow their electoral processes while several local observers and journalists were barred from covering the polls.

Zimbabwe has a long history of disputed elections dating back to the Mugabe era.

- Additional reporting by Duncan Khaemba