Human rights activists on Tuesday accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), where presidential and parliamentary elections are due to be held in August, of releasing the phone numbers of voters who they say have received “terrorist” messages from the ruling party.
President Mnangagwa was regularly accused of pandering to the opposition. But unable to revive an economy that has been in crisis for two decades, he faces growing discontent in the country.
According to local NGO Team Pachedu, voters, some of whom are newly registered, received personalized text messages in Shona (the local language) including the name of the constituency they belong to and signed with the name of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is running for re-election. .
According to Team Pachedu, the “intimidation tactic” of sending text messages to private numbers was already used during the last election in 2018.
The organization condemned the violations of the division of electoral precincts last month.