THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) says it will set “reasonable conditions” on availing the voter roll to protect it against possible tampering.
In a statement titled: Enhancing Security of the Voters
Roll posted on Twitter yesterday, Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana said it
would avail the electronic voters roll on a platform only accessible to those
approved by the commission.
“Zec has always availed this voters roll on a CD in a
format, analysable and searchable,” Mangwana said. “The voters roll shall be
kept at all Zec offices for public inspection, free of charge, during ordinary
working hours by individuals and they may make written notes if need be. Zec has provided the USSD (unstructured
supplementary service data) and biometric voter registration inspection portal
platforms for easy inspection by individuals.
Section 21(7) (says): where a voters roll is provided in electronic
format, it should be 1. In a format that it may not be altered. Zec may provide reasonable conditions on the
provision of the voters roll to prevent it from being commercialised or used
for other purposes unconnected to elections. Technology has moved, CD (compact
disk) format which was issued could be altered and duplicated so many times
causing alarm and despondency to the electorate hence the need to enhance
security and introduce a platform only for those approved to access the voters
roll by Zec that cannot be altered.”
Election watchdogs, among them Team Pachedu, have unearthed
several discrepancies and have been poking holes on a voters roll which Zec
says has been leaked.
The discrepancies included the alleged movement of 170 000
voters from their constituencies and wards and the creation of additional
polling stations under unclear circumstances.
Zec has been under pressure from political parties and
civil society organisations who alleged that they tamper with the voters roll
to rig the election in favour of the ruling Zanu PF party.
In June this year Zec said it had picked over 180 000
errors on the voters roll, a figure election watchdogs said was too huge and
could have a strong bearing on the outcome of next year’s elections.
Meanwhile, Zec said it had started its consultation process
with local authorities to split or merge wards that have registered voters
above or below the average threshold.
Zec on Sunday released voter population figures that will
be used to determine the constituencies and/or wards that shall be divided in
the delimitation exercise.
In a notice, Zec said as of March 31, 2022 Harare
Metropolitan had the highest number of registered voters of ( 102, followed by
Midlands with 762 928), while Bulawayo Metropolitan had the least number with
270 938.
In an interview with NewsDay, Zec chief elections officer
Team Pachedusaid: “The number of constituencies will remain the same, that is
210 throughout the country despite the changes that may occur in the
delimitation process. But the number of wards is determined by the outcome of
the consolidation with the council. Splitting of the wards also depends on the
capacity of the local authority to manage more wards in its area.” Newsday
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