Chronicle Editor
Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) will make provisions for assisted voters in the upcoming March 26 by-elections and the 2023 harmonised elections.
According to the country’s laws, the illiterate and physically challenged can be assisted to cast their vote.
Section 59 of the Electoral Act provides for the conditions of assisted voters to include any person selected by the voter to assist them, polling station presiding officer in the presence of two other electoral officers or employees of Zec and a police officer on duty.
According to the law, a person permitted to assist a voter does not need to be a registered voter but should not be a minor, electoral officer, accredited observer, chief election agent, election agent, or a candidate in the election.
Matabeleland South provincial elections officer Mr Rabson Nyoni said the law now has a provision where the person who wants to be assisted to vote can bring someone of his/her choice to assist them to cast their vote.
“After that, we do the protocol recordings in the appropriate registers at the polling station. We also have a person who may not come with a chosen confidante, that person will be assisted by Zec staff; the presiding officer, two polling officers and a police officer. The necessary registers are completed again,” said Mr Nyoni.
He said assisted persons would be allowed to get into the booth with their confidante to cast their vote.
“We thereafter record that this particular voter was assisted to vote by their confidante,” said Mr Nyoni.
A person permitted to assist a voter has to identify him/herself to the presiding officer by producing proof of identity, complete and sign the register and he/she is not permitted to assist more than one voter in any election.
“A presiding officer permitted to assist a voter in terms of subsection (1)(b), together with the other persons there mentioned, shall there and then mark the ballot paper in accordance with the voter’s wishes and place the ballot paper in the ballot box, and if the wishes of the voter as to the manner in which the vote is to be marked on the ballot paper are not sufficiently clear to enable the vote to be so marked, the presiding officer may cause such questions to be put to the voter as in his or her opinion, are necessary to clarify the voter’s intentions,” Section 59 (4) of the Electoral Act reads.
The law also says no person other than the person selected by the voter or the presiding officer shall take part in assisting an illiterate or physically challenged voter, and no person who is entitled to be in a polling station should attempt to ascertain how the voter is voting. — @Yolisswa
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