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Nyemudzai Kakore Harare Bureau
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will soon embark on a nationwide voter registration exercise to capture all eligible voters by 2016. The exercise comes on the heels of a pilot project undertaken in Marondera to gain experience which could be applied in the creation of polling station-specific voters’ rolls which will assist in dispelling negative perceptions associated with the previous national voters roll.
Speaking at the sidelines of the polling station pilot voter registration feedback meeting in Harare on Friday, ZEC chairperson Justice Rita Makarau and the chief elections officer Constance Chigwamba said the polling station dates would be gazetted soon. “Now that we’ve done it in Marondera, we’ll roll out the process nationwide. With or without money, polling stations will be opened soon on a date to be gazetted and announced,” said Justice Makarau.
Said Constance Chigwamba, “We’re consulting with stakeholders who’ve shown that the polling station-voter registration can be done. It has to be for 2018,” she said. “If we’ve to prepare a voters’ roll for all the 110 constituencies, without having to have repeat registrants, the registration process should be completed in 2016 with 2017 becoming the mop up, clearing and cleaning the voters’ roll,” she said.
The meeting was attended by representatives from MDC-T, MDC 99, Suffering Voices of Zimbabwe, (SUVOZ), Progressive and Innovative Movement of Zimbabwe (PIMZ) and Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP). Chigwamba reiterated that for the nationwide voting system, ZEC required more than $50 million.
“The finances are needed because this exercise requires funding. We’ll not claim that ZEC will do it alone. We’ve already prepared something and if we’re to roll out by next year, we would need for the whole country maybe close to $50 million,” she said. “This is provided for in the Constitution and the Electoral Act. Every one of the approximately six million voters, need to be captured and capturing is done on a form before it’s computerised,” she said.
Justice Makarau said the new system eliminated cases of ghost voters but pointed out that ZEC was not mandated to set up polling stations in prisons or hospitals. “A supplementary voters’ roll will be a thing of the past. The constitutional provision doesn’t allow us to set up polling stations in hospitals, prisons or register persons with foreign addresses. We’ve been calling for the realignment of the laws and you should agitate for this kind of legal reforms,” she said.
ZEC commissioner Bessie Nhandara said the pilot project was an eye opener which revealed ZEC loopholes in terms of equipment and resources.
“The pilot exercise revealed that we aren’t adequately equipped in terms of computers and other hardware and software to conduct a mammoth activity. It also revealed a gap in the training needs for personnel to conduct voter registration if this is to be taken countrywide. The Commission has to train staff in voter registration as this is a new function with its own peculiarities that require special skills,” she said.
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