The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporters
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will deploy over 1 900 officers to more than 4 400 centres for the final mobile voter registration exercise, which begins today.
The 10-day nationwide campaign ends on March 21.
Eligible voters will, however, still be able to register until two days after proclamation of the election date by President Mnangagwa.
ZEC deputy chairperson Ambassador Rodney Simukai Kiwa told The Sunday Mail that the electoral management body had deployed all requisite personnel for the exercise by yesterday.
“A total of 1 970 mobile voter registration officers will be deployed for the exercise,” he said.
“The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission established 4 474 mobile voter registration centres countrywide.
“To register, one has to present a national identity document, a valid passport or a paper waiting pass with one’s photograph, as well as proof of residence.”
If one does not have proof of residence, he said, they will be asked to fill in an affidavit at the voter registration centre.
A driver’s licence, added Ambassador Kiwa, will not be accepted as proof of identity when registering “since it does not show one’s citizenship”.
Registration centres will be open between 7am and 5pm.
Mr Naboth Paurosi Dzivaguru, a political analyst and executive director of Global Economy 2020 Consultancy Group, said commencement of the voter registration drive marks the beginning of this year’s election season.
“The commission is giving another chance to those who feel they should have a say or have a part to play in the country’s governance,” he said.
“I anticipate that registered voters will rise above the six million mark this year given the high levels of interest in the country’s politics. The six million figure may be reached or even surpassed as well. People should register to vote in this coming election.”
Conclusion of the voter registration blitz will pave the way for ZEC to undertake various other activities, including opening the voters’ roll for public inspection, which will lead up to the elections.
ZEC has since tabled a $130 billion budget to conduct the polls, with Treasury expected to start disbursing the funds.
According to ZEC’s preliminary 2023 elections roadmap, they will conduct an extensive post-delimitation awareness programme to explain the new electoral boundaries.
This process will lead to other routine electoral procedures such as accreditation of observers and the media, production of the voters’ roll, constitution of the nomination court and establishment of the Multi-Party Liaison Committee.
President Mnangagwa gazetted the final delimitation report on February 20 this year.
Some of the salient features of the delimitation report are the creation of three new local authorities – Mvurwi Town Council with six wards; Chirundu Local Board with three wards; and Lupane Local Board with six wards.
At National Assembly constituency level, Harare province gained an extra constituency from the previous 29 seats.
Matabeleland South lost a constituency owing to the low number of registered voters in the province.
The province now has 12 National Assembly seats.
The rest of the provinces remained with the same number of constituencies allocated to them during the 2007 and 2008 delimitation exercise.
