ELECTORAL watchdogs have raised concern over the low turnout of registrants for the voters roll inspection exercise, which started yesterday.
The low turnout has been attributed to the limited
publicity of the exercise by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec).
Zec said it had established 11 107 voter inspection centres
throughout the country for the 10-day exercise ahead of the delimitation
exercise.
A snap survey conducted by NewsDay showed that at some
centres throughout the morning, Zec officials were idle, with no registrants
coming to inspect the voters roll.
“The turnout for the voters inspections exercise is
worringly low. There was little awareness of the exercise in the media. People
are not aware of it.
“I also find it mind-boggling for Zec to conduct a separate
voter inspection and education exercise without including voter registration. We,
therefore, call on Zec to synchronise the exercises,” Zimbabwe Election
Advocacy Trust executive director Ignatius Sadziwa said.
Election Resource Centre programmes co-ordinator Takunda
Tsunga said: “There were no major issues to declare, although we note that at
some centres in Harare South the voters roll was not available for people to
inspect. We also note that turnout has so far been low,” Tsunga said.
Zec spokesperson Jasper Mnagwana said people were checking
their details online, which could have contributed to low physical turnout.
“The rural areas have the biggest turnout. But for those in
town, we are going to get statistics to check how many have been using digital
platforms,” he said.
“Most of the time, if people confirm that their details are
correct online, they won’t go to the centres and that could be the reason for
the low turnout. We have been using radio, which has the biggest reach, and
television to advertise the exercise,” Mangwana added.
But Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network chairperson Andrew
Makoni said although people could inspect the voters toll online, they could
not confirm their faces.
“Citizens must go and inspect the voters roll and ensure
that all their details are captured correctly,” Makoni said. Newsday
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