THE voters’ roll for the August 23 general elections will be made available to election candidates at the end of June, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has said.
This is according to the electoral body’s chief elections officer, Utloile Silaigwana when he announced the end of voter inspection last Friday.
Some people found their names missing from the voters’ roll upon verifying via mobile phone platforms, while others noticed their names were moved from the polling stations in which they registered.
Silaigwana said all that would be resolved by June 21 when the nomination court sits. He said: “The commission would like to assure members of the public that it will rectify any anomalies that were observed during the voters’ roll inspection exercise.
“This will be done during the final compilation of the voters’ roll.” In March, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator, Allan Markham, filed a court application challenging Zec for access to an electronic voters’ roll.
The courts ruled against him because “it was too risky” and in the interest of data protection. Slaigwana said the voters’ roll will, after the nomination court, which sits on 21 June, be “availed free to prospective candidates”.
ZEC will oversee the general elections against the backdrop of a public spat among its commissioners. Seven of the nine commissioners wrote to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in January, expressing their displeasure about the delimitation report, which drew constituency boundaries to be used during elections.
They said the delimitation did not “meet the minimum standards expected regarding transparent procedures that strengthen stakeholders’ confidence and dispel potential gerrymandering allegations”. Only the body’s chairperson Priscilla Chigumba and Silaigwana stood by the report, which was finally adopted. — News24
