President Emmerson Mnangagwa is yet to proclaim the
election dates expected to fall in July or August.
Appearing yesterday before the joint Thematic Committee on
Peace and Security and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice,
Chigumba said the commission was still undertaking the biometric voter
registration exercise, which will end two days after proclamation of the
election date.
“Voter registration will continue in all the districts
until two days after the proclamation. To date, nearly six million voters have
been registered. The commission will only announce the number of voters who
will be eligible to vote once the process is done,” Chigumba said.
She added: “The commission is making strides to ensure that
elections will be conducted peacefully in an environment that ensures that the
will of the electorate is realised. The commission is satisfied that its
preparations are well on course and is ready to discharge its mandate in
accordance with the law.”
On the issue of availing the voters roll to key
stakeholders, Chigumba said she could not comment on the matter as it is before
the courts, adding that Zec only makes regulations through the Ministry of
Justice.
“Zec has been sued and I do not want to be in contempt of
court. As a commission, there is no
reason why we would not want voters to access the voters’ roll.”
On allegations of leaking voters’ phone numbers to Zanu PF,
Chigumba said: “We have to protect the data of our voters in accordance with
the Data Protection Act. As a commission, it does not take anything away to
give citizens a voters roll as readily as we can, but we have an obligation to
comply with all pieces of legislation.”
She said legislators must find out how the voters roll is
availed to people in other countries in the Sadc region.
“We will establish an electoral dispute resolution
mechanism for the upcoming elections. In preparation for 2023 harmonised
elections, the commission will launch the national multiparty liaison committee
to be cascaded to provinces and district level to curb proliferation of
electoral disputes and violence during the build-up to, and after the general
elections,” she said. Newsday
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