MATABELELAND North Provincial Elections Officer, Mr Richard Sibanda has urged the public to ignore social media reports and wait the official announcements of results via the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
In an interview at the Matabeleland North Provincial command centre, Mr Sibanda said the verification process was thorough and it would be premature for people to rush to announce the election results.
”For now we are waiting for the results from the various wards in the province. As we get the results from the wards we will compare them with those that will be brought on hard copies. We won’t announce the results unless the hard copies have been brought to the Provincial command centre.
“As we speak we are expecting to announce the results in the next two to three hours up to later in the night as we continue to receive the hard copies,” said Mr Sibanda.
Meanwhile, ZEC Bulawayo Provincial Elections Officer, Mrs Pretty Gadzikwa, says statistics from constituencies is still being collated to pave the way for official announcement of results later today.
So far only three districts had submitted the bulk of their results by late Thursday afternoon.
“All our command areas are collating all the results for various candidates and various posts. For Bulawayo Central 90 percent of the wards, which is the Local authority have been collated.
“Imbizo District only 27 percent has been collated that is at ward level, and Mzilikazi District has done 30 percent,” said Mrs Gadzikwa.
She said delays in casting of votes and eventual counting were experienced owing to logistical issues faced on election day.
“So, due to delays, we ran into the night and we are expecting the complete collation of all wards at 10pm this evening (Thursday). We might also get from Bulawayo Central some results from our constituencies,” added Mrs Gadzikwa.
— Chronicle
