The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has launched a public opinion poll at the on-going Zimbabwe Agricultural Show in Harare to determine whether citizens would want political parties in the country registered or not.
Speaking in an interview with The Mirror from the
Harare showgrounds yesterday, ZEC spokesperson, Commissioner Jasper Mangwana
said registration of political parties is one of the major electoral amendment
acts expected before the 2023 national elections.
Currently the law does not require political parties to
register.
“Parties just write a letter to notify us that they are in
existence and indicate their symbols. As a result, ZEC had more than 200
political parties registered for 2018 and yet less than 10% of those
participated in the elections,” said Mangwana.
Although Mangwana did not say what the conditions for
registration of parties would be, he hinted that in countries where such
processes take place the requirements are stiff. He said this may amount to
such conditions such as ownership of buildings, submission of certain documents
including registers of supporters who are 20 to 30% of registered voters in
that area.
Mangwana defended the ‘exorbitant’ registration fees
gazetted for aspiring councilors, MPs and presidents for the 2023 national
elections.
“We want candidates who are seriously vying for public
office. You cannot entirely depend on public funds to provide a process that
will vote you into power. You have to show commitment either as an MP or
President.
“Surely you cannot fail to raise US$1 000 as an MP or even
ask your supporters to contribute 10c each. These fixed amounts are very low
and some stakeholders are saying so.
“If you want to be an MP, to administer Community
Development Funds (CDF) and you want to make laws for this country you must
show commitment,” said Mangwana.
ZEC has gazette US$100 registration fees for aspiring
councilors, US$1 000 for MPs and US$20 000 for presidents.
ZEC has pitched a
stand at the Harare Agricultural Show where it is registering voters, giving
voters an opportunity to transfer from one station to another, providing for
the inspection of the voters’ role and holding of awareness campaigns.
The services were opened yesterday and scores of people
were already queuing up for the services. The Zimbabwe Agricultural Show opened
on Monday and it will be running until Saturday night. Masvingo Mirror
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