Less than 30 people in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province have so far come forward to register as voters in the 2023 polls after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) resumed the exercise on April 1 following the government’s relaxation of Covid-19 lockdown measures.
Prior to polls, the electoral body will carry out the
delimitation exercise to determine the number of voters per constituency based
on the number of registered voters, a development likely to see some
constituencies being merged should they fall short of the set threshold.
ZEC Bulawayo provincial elections officer, Innocent Ncube,
told CITE that it was regrettable Bulawayo residents were not coming forward to
register.
“The combined total number of voters from April up to now
is less than 30, so to say there are people who have registered is just a
non-starter,” bemoaned Ncube.
“It is just a non-starter. Right now we have had 61 days
for April and May plus the nine for today (Wednesday). We had about 70 days and
there is just less than 30 people [who have registered] and we cannot say there
are registered voters; there is none. Voter registration is very, very low
because on average we can say it is at zero in that in a month we can register
just a single person. You cannot say there is registration going on. People
just need to be told that there is no registration taking place.”
The provincial elections officer urged politicians to
encourage residents to go and register, adding Bulawayo risked losing some
constituencies as a result of the low number of registered voters.
“People have to come and register, again for politicians,
it is their role to encourage people to come and register and if they don’t
they are going to lose constituencies,” said Ncube.
“We are likely to lose two or three constituencies looking
at current registered voter population. What you must bear in mind is that the
delimitation is determined by the national number of registered voters. What we
do is: we take the national number of registered voters, we divide by 210 to
get the average number of voters per constituency.”
Ncube further explained: “That average is the one that
determines which constituencies meet that criteria. Let’s say for the purposes
of hypothesising, the average is 25, 000 per constituency, we will take 20
percent up and 20 percent down. The 20 percent of 25, 000 is about 5,000. We
will then say 25, 000 minus 5, 000 which is 20, 000. We will then say 25, 000
plus 5,000 because it has 20 percent up and 20 percent down, it then goes to
30, 000. So our range will be 20 to 30 thousand.”
He further elaborated: “You would discover that some of our
constituencies in Bulawayo have 17, 000 while others have 18, 000 and 13, 000
and obviously those constituencies with such low numbers are dissolved. That is
why I am saying between two are three constituencies are going to be lost at
the current number of registered voters.”
He said would-be voters should come to ZEC provincial
offices at Windsor Park in Famona, where he said there are four registration
points, arguing the electorate should not use the use of only one registration
centre in the province as an excuse for not coming forward.
“Yes, there is one registration centre,” he said.
“We have registration points there. Whoever wants to
register would make it a point to come to Famona and register. That’s why I am
saying politicians have a role to play to encourage people to come and
register. The media also has got a role of encouraging people to come and
register.” Cite.org.zw
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