Rigging plot unearthed?

                                                        By Blessed Chapwati

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims it has unearthed a sophisticated rigging system set to be employed by President Robert Mugabe to win Saturday's election.

                  MDC Sec General Tendai Biti holding an anonymous letter from a policeman

Outlining the rigging plot at a news conference in Harare, MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said Mugabe has enlisted the services of the Israeli Intelligence to win Saturday's elections at all cost.

"The Israeli Intelligence is at work as we speak right now to ensure Mugabe's victory in Saturday's election. Mugabe has won the election through violence and rigging but this time around he is using a sophisticated computer system to rig the elections," Biti said.

The computer system includes the scanning of the voters roll and encrypting it with codes that cannot be cracked easily.

The contracted Israeli intelligence has been traced to a company named as Cogniview (http://www.cogniview.com)

Meanwhile, hours before tomorrow's election, political parties have not received the voters roll in electronic and hard copy as agreed.

All requests are being referred to the registrar general’s office which, under current voting laws no longer has jurisdiction to administer elections.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is empowered with the mandate to run the election.

The MDC has also raised concern over postal votes for uniformed forces which were cast over the Easter holiday where police officers received ballots in envelopes marked with their force numbers.

An anonymous letter written by a police officer was shown during the press conference raising fears of victimization owing to force numbers that were printed on the ballot envelopes.

Printing of force numbers is viewed as a way of tracing officers who will vote against the incumbent president.

Records show that six hundred thousand ballot papers were printed for the postal vote instead of the required twenty thousand. Biti said Zimbabwe is the only country in the world which allows postal votes for citizens within the country contrary to international norms where postal votes are only for citizens living outside a country’s boarders.

Ironically, Zimbabweans in foreign countries are not allowed to vote, a move that was crafted to guard against a possible bias towards the opposition. The ruling ZANU PF party is receiving the largest share of news coverage on national television and radio while the opposition only appears in adverts and news items carrying hate connotations and smearing statements.

Other revelations in the rigging plot include the printing of 9 million ballots for the presidential poll against five comma nine million registered voters. "Mugabe is expecting a 58 percent artificial majority win if the electoral fraud plot goes through," Biti said.

Biti added that his party is wary of additional polling stations that are most likely to be put in place on the eleventh hour.

"We are worried about polling stations that are likely to crop up in the last minute particularly in areas that are predominantly ZANU PF strongholds. The polling stations will present logistical challenges as they are not budgeted for. These polling stations are usually used for ghost voters to increase the final tally infavour of Mugabe, "he said.

In recent weeks, President Mugabe has attempted to twist the electoral law through a declaration that presidential ballots will be counted at a central command center.

Section 64 (1) (e) under the recent constitutional amendment number eighteen states that all ballot papers for the polls will be counted at the polling station and results will be announced at the same place.

The MDC has since filed an urgent High Court application objecting to the move.

Opposition parties have also expressed concern over the deployment of 400 personnel by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to polling stations to pay polling officers and agencies.

Biti said word is out that the RBZ personnel could be used as a conduit to bribe polling officers.

President Mugabe is also said to have sought for the help of a neighboring country's army in case people revolt should he win the elections.

"A regional army has been put on standby because Mugabe no longer trusts the local army and police. The army and police have been loyal to him in the past but he no longer trusts them," Biti said.

Zimbabwe goes to the polls tomorrow in harmonized elections that will see the election of a president, house of assembly, senate and local government councilors.

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