Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) rejects the recent Zimbabwean elections in its entirety and calls for new elections under the supervision of Africa Union (AU), Southern Africa Development Committee and other International organisations said Gift Ostallos Siziba during a press brief yesterday.
“The elections fell by any standard to meet the criteria of a free, fair and credible elections so we reject the process in its in toto”, said Siziba.
The recent elections were condemned by regional and international observers such as SADC, AU, Commonwealth and European Union as they described it as falling short in meeting regional and international standards of free, fair and credible elections.
Siziba stated that the only way Zimbabwe democracy could be restored once and for all was the restoration of the rule of law through disbanding Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and going for an electoral re-run under the stewardship of AU and SADC.
“In the current political crisis, the only way this sacred right can be fulfilled, the only way can resolve the current predicament we are facing as a people, the citizens Coalition for Change led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa has assessed the situation and has made the following clear and emphatic demands; that to restore pure democracy and legitimacy in our country, we are not going to settle for less, other than a free, fair, credible and a proper election.
The solution lies in calling upon our African brothers to facilitate, to mediate, to scaffold and more importantly, to guarantee a process that will lead our return to legitimacy in the shortest period.
This election that we are coming from, was a flawed process in its entirety for avoidance of doubt and the solution to put it very clearly is to have a fresh, free, fair and credible election,” Siziba said.
ZEC has been alleged of having abetted the holding of a flawed poll which was slanting in favour of ZANU PF.
Siziba stated that, “ZEC failed the credibility test, the transparency test and the professional test and therefore, ZEC failed its fidelity to the Zimbabwean constitution and ZEC must be disbanded, and a credible player, a professional player, scaffolded by regional and international players is the only way to have a free fair election.
We said we need a fresh new and proper election in this country whose process is scaffolded by SADC, by African Union, by all other interested parties interested in the democracy of this country”.
Siziba also highlighted how the election period from pre election, election and post election period was flawed.
He said, “The election circle from pre-election, election and post election was marred by several illegalities that can only be corrected by holding free, fair and credible elections under the supervision of AU and SADC”.
The pre-election period was characterised by ZEC refusing to provide the voter registers to parties involved in time, the gerrymandering of boundaries in favour of ZANU PF, exorbitant normination fee outside the reach of many.
“Saviour Kasukuwere was not on the presidential ballot paper”, Siziba highlighted some of the flawed aspects of the pre-election period.
The election period mainly in Harare, Bulawayo and Manicaland were delayed due to insufficient ballot paper.
Siziba said that, “The perceived strongholds of CCC were without ballot papers for the local authority and this disenfranchised citizens”.
Forever Association of Zimbabwe (FAZ) an alleged quasi ZANU PF group is accused of intimidating citizens mainly in the countryside before, during and after elections, foreign electoral observers have highlighted this in their preliminary reports.
Following an election associated with controversies and unprecedented flaws, CCC calls for new elections as outlined by Siziba.