CIVIC Society Organisations under the umbrella Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiCZ) have ratcheted up pressure on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to launch voter registration awareness campaigns without further delays as the 2018 general elections are fast approaching.
By NQOBANI NDLOVU
CiCZ in a statement yesterday said it was concerned Zec had not carried out the exercise, or given timelines where the process would start although it has awarded Chinese firm, Laxton Group Limited the tender to supply biometric voter registration kits.
“There is need for Zec to move with speed and intensify voter education as a way of ensuring that citizens practice their democratic right to vote,” CiCZ said.
“The CiCZ calls on the country’s electoral body (Zec) to show its commitment and adherence to the Constitution by ensuring that it conducts comprehensive voter education as a precursor to voter registration, which aims at coming up with an auditable, credible and undisputed voters’ roll,” the CiCZ said yesterday.
Zec in March released draft registrations to replace the voter registration framework used in the 2013 elections, which among other things state that voter registration will be polling station-based.
The Zec also increased the number of people who will be registered and eligible to vote at a particular polling station to
1 500, but opposition parties who were pushing for at least 1 000 people per polling station worry that several voters might not be able to vote due to time constraints.
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“It is also imperative for the Zec to move with speed in the voter education and registration considering that they have not yet availed officially how many registration centres are going to be available in each province.
“CSO’s working in the country have the potential to assist in this exercise in the event that the Zec confirms that it is failing on this constitutional mandate. Engagement and collaboration between the Zec and CSOs is critical going forward as a way of crafting the way forward in addressing this challenge,” the CiCZ added.
