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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
THE Government has declared July 30 a public holiday to enable the electorate to cast their votes without hassles from work-related commitments.
The country will hold harmonised elections on July 30 and the Electoral Act prescribes that the Election Day be declared a public holiday.
The declaration comes following a recent statement by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education that schools will close early to pave way for the harmonised polls.
The Ministry brought forward the closing of schools to July 26 as most schools will be used as polling stations while some teachers will be attached to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) as electoral officers.
In an interview yesterday, Zec Commissioner Dr Qhubani Moyo said in accordance with the law, the Election Day will be a public holiday.
“The spirit behind declaring the Election Day a public holiday is to enable the people to prepare for polling considering that this election is polling station based. This means that some people might need to travel to their polling stations,” said Dr Moyo.
“It is also a way of encouraging all the people to cast their votes. If some of the people are committed on other things such as work they may fail to participate in this important exercise.”
He encouraged those who will be travelling to their voting base, to do so, latest on the weekend before Monday, July 30 to avoid inconvenience. Dr Moyo said election preparations were at an advanced stage.
“In terms of preparations and logistics the commission is very happy all the systems are in place to ensure that everything goes well on Election Day.
“The systems include identification of polling stations, completion of the voters’ roll printing and other material that goes with the election,” said Dr Moyo.
@nqotshili
Online Reporter