The Zimbabwean opposition formation led by presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai has asked the nation's high court to order the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to add more polling stations in Harare and Bulawayo for the presidential, parliamentary and local elections slated for March 29.
Supporting the opposition grouping's contention, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network issued a statement saying Harare and Bulawayo metropolitan provinces have been assigned too few polling stations. ZESN noted that while Harare province has 379 stations and Bulawayo province 207, Midlands Province has nearly 1,300.
ZESN also noted that the commission's list of polling places also contains errors, for instance, some polling places are listed as falling in the wrong constituency. .
National Elections Director Dennis Murira of the Tsvangirai MDC grouping told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the party took the issue to the courts because it suspects that the commission assigned few polling stations to the major urban centers in the calculated aim of frustrating MDC voter turnout.