Padded out with babies, dead people and phantom voters,
Zimbabwe's electoral roll has long been a contentious feature of its elections
and is accused of being the rotten core of vote rigging.
The list of voters eligible to cast ballots in elections
due on July 30 will be a major focus for foreign observers deployed to the
country in an effort to ensure the vote's credibility.
In previous ballots, manipulating the voter roll has been
one of the strategies used to fix results.
In 2013, observer group Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network
described the voter roll that was the basis of former president Robert Mugabe's
final election victory - a 61 percent landslide - as "a systematic effort
to disenfranchise" voters.
They estimated that around one million electors had been
robbed of their political voice.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe
with support from the military last November, has vowed a break with the past -
promising an election free of violence, intimidation and fraud.
To allay fears of phantom voters, Zimbabwe has produced a
new register featuring biometric voter
data for the first time.
In recent weeks, voters have even been able to inspect and
verify their details to avoid problems on polling day.
"The biometric voter registration process captures
one's biometric details hence it is envisaged that it will get rid of multiple
registrations and dead people on the voters roll," said Tawanda Chimhini,
director of the Election Resource Centre, a non-profit poll monitor.
But poll watchers and opposition parties warn that will not
be enough to ensure the election's credibility.
Demand for an independent audit of the register has
intensified in recent weeks after voter registration closed on Friday.
"There must be an external audit of the voters
roll," said Douglas Mwonzora, secretary general of the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which organises
elections, has so far refused to open the roll to public scrutiny, arguing that
to do so would create confusion.
"It's rather sad that [the ZEC] have chosen not to do
this because unfortunately it feeds the perception that they have something to
hide," said Piers Pigou, the International Crisis Group's Zimbabwe
researcher.
An independent audit of the voter register at various
stages of its compilation is "the critical missing factor" in the
much-anticipated and closely watched election, Pigou said.
"There is one fundamental problem that we are seeing
here... and that is its failure to really invest and build credibility and
confidence in this roll."
Sara Rich Dorman, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh
and author of the book "Understanding Zimbabwe", warned that
Zimbabweans were hungry for transparency.
"We know that every voter roll since independence has
been deeply flawed," she said.
"The verification process this time seems
substantially improved, but if the list is still based on old, problematic
voters rolls, then we cannot be 100 percent confident," added Rich Dorman.
Activists also say that key constitutional changes adopted
in 2013 have not yet been made law, which could threaten the constitutionality
of the polls.
"A number of laws remain unaligned to the constitution
of Zimbabwe, potentially threatening the constitutionality of our election
including the independence of the ZEC... (and) the right to vote for the
diaspora and prisoners," said Chimhini.
"The ZEC must be able to operate independently without
the interference of the executive."
The opposition has complained that the ZEC is heavily
stacked with former military personnel who could lean towards the ruling
Zanu-PF power structure, and have called for it to be
"demilitarised".
But for ordinary voters, the biggest concern will be that
the elections are peaceful.
"People have to be very mature, no violence - just
cast your vote to build our nation in peace," said Victor Murembeni, 38,
who registered to vote at the last minute.
Mnangagwa, 75, of the ruling Zanu-PF party will square-off
against the MDC's 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa in the presidential race.
Chamisa replaced founding party leader Morgan Tsvangirai
after the former trade union stalwart, who served as prime minister in a
power-sharing government with Mugabe, died of cancer in February.
Former president Mugabe, 94, has not been seen in public in
recent months, although he has been linked to a new political party made up of
disgruntled former Zanu-PF members.
So there may yet be surprises to come in Zimbabwe's
election other than the electoral roll.
eNCA
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