Statement by David Coltart re election result in Bulawayo East

I confirm that it appears I have lost the Bulawayo East Constituency to MDC T's Thabitha Khumalo by 19 votes, although the final official result has not been announced. Whilst I obviously congratulate her and wish her well and stress that my comments are not directed against her, the entire election was fraught with serious irregularities.

Even prior to the election on Tuesday I handed a letter to the Head of the SADC Team in Bulawayo detailing 6 serious breaches of our Electoral law and Constitution which stands as record. In my view the entire election is illegal - for example I have still not received a copy of the electronic voters roll which I was entitled to and which was a key mechanism to counter rigging.

Then yesterday as the day progressed I became increasingly suspicious of what was going on in the 7 polling stations which had been sited by ZEC within a 2 kilometre radius of Brady Barracks. Suffice it to say that the election was lost in those 7 out of 40 polling stations in the Constituency with results coming out of those polling stations which bear little relation to voting patterns in them and the areas they cover in the last decade.

It has of course been impossible to analyse the voters who were resident in these areas of concern because I do not have the voters roll! 

I have now been advised that Tendai Biti has lost his seat as well, along with Jameson Timba . It appears that their seats were targeted for special attention. That news along with news of the loss of Manicaland, Masvingo and Matabeleland South to Zanu PF makes it clear in my mind that the entire election is fraudulent. It also puts my loss in context.

I could not understand how Robert Mugabe could be so confident in his press conference on Tuesday when his main opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had the the day before held one of the biggest political rallies ever in his backyard. I was astounded to read in the Herald yesterday that Zanu PF were looking at obtaining a 2/3 majority in Parliament which defied all reasonable projections. It is now clear why there was this confidence. Zimbabwe has been subjected to electoral fraud on a massive scale.

Statement issued by David Coltart, Bulawayo, August 1 2013 (see Facebook page here)

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