Posted on 27-4-2004
Poll Neither Free Nor Fair
SAPA, 19 April 2004
The Inkatha Freedom Party will contest the results of the election
after
the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) failed to investigate
42
complaints of violence and intimidation lodged by the party,
and declared
the poll free and fair. The party claims that irregularities
occurred in
both national and provincial elections, but mainly in its stronghold
of
KwaZulu-Natal.
IFP spokesperson Musa Zondi told the Mail & Guardian Online
on Monday
morning that the IEC had ignored all its complaints and objections
about
the poll and had then gone ahead and announced the final results.
He said
the IEC seemed "totally oblivious" of what had gone
on in KwaZulu-Natal
and that there had been a number of irregularities that had
been ignored.
IFP spokesperson John Aulsebrook on Monday afternoon raised
concerns that
the IEC had declared the election free and fair without advising
all
political parties of its intention. "The Inkatha Freedom
Party is
accordingly unable to endorse the declaration of the election
to have been
free and fair and has tasked a legal team to investigate the
institution
of an appeal to the Electoral Court." He said he was unsure
whether the
appeal would be lodged on Monday. "It is up to the legal
team to decide
when and where." Aulsebrook said the party was concerned
that 367 731
votes were cast in KwaZulu-Natal outside registered voter districts.
"The
IFP expresses extreme concern that 367 731 voters cast their
ballots in
voter districts in KwaZulu-Natal where such voters were not
registered on
the voters roll for the particular districts." He said
it was alarming
that the verification procedures, in place to confirm voters'
correct
registered voting districts, was insufficient.
The IFP also accused the ANC of transporting its supporters
from one
voting district to another. He added that the party was concerned
by
allegations that members of the SA National Defence Force had
intimidated
and assaulted residents of the Msinga area. "Some of these
incidents
allegedly prevented persons from exercising their constitutional
right to
vote and have accordingly impacted on the freeness and fairness
of the
election." Aulsebrook said a full dossier containing the
details of these
incidents were submitted to Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota
for
investigation.
The party took the decision to approach the Electoral Court
at a 10-hour
emergency meeting of its National and Provincial Councils in
Durban on
Sunday. Speculation is that the IFP may agree to another coalition
in the
province with the ANC, but the party says it will not participate
in the
national or provincial government while the court case is in
progress.
Zondi said the IFP leadership had appointed a task-team, headed
by him,
that would explore all options and then advise the leadership
as soon as
possible.
Lydia Young, the media facilitator for the IEC, told the Mail
& Guardian
Online on Monday that they had not been served with papers by
the IFP.
“It’s just something that’s out in the media,”
she said, adding that the
IEC will not respond until it has been served papers by the
Electoral
Court.
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