News / National
MDC-T wants final voters' roll audited
06 Mar 2018 at 06:09hrs | Views
A mock exercise by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on the use of the biometric voter registration kits in Mabvuku, Harare.
THE MDC-T has challenged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to engage an independent firm to audit the final voters' roll to flush out ghost voters ahead of this year's general elections.
Party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said external auditors were required for the voters' roll to pass the credibility test.
"We demand that external auditors be allowed to look at the voters' roll before it is used in the elections, Zec said it will do an internal audit, but that is not enough, Zec, through a tender, should invite an audit firm which goes through the roll," he said.
He also demanded that Zec should release an a final voters' roll that can be analysed at least 60 days before the elections to allow opposition political parties to go through it.
"The law says that a voters' roll cannot be challenged or amended 30 days before the elections, what this means is that we need to get the final voters' roll at least 60 days before polling so that we can analyse it and take it through a credibility test, Zec should, therefore, release it on time," he said.
Zec chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba, however, said the commission would allow independent auditors to voluntarily audit the provisional voters' roll which would be released end of next month.
"After we produce the provisional voters' roll, it will then lie open for inspection, it is at that time that people are allowed to look at it, inspect it and those who want to audit our work will have the opportunity to do that at that stage, after which we will then come up with the final voters' roll," she said.
Zec could, however, not guarantee that they will be able to release the voters' roll 60 days before elections, only saying they will do everything within their power to have it ready.
Independent elections watchdog Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (Zesn) said the announcements by Zec were not sufficient to deal with putting the roll to test.
"In order to afford electoral stakeholders ample time to plan various interventions in support of the various electoral processes preceding the 2018 elections, Zesn reiterates its calls for a detailed operational plan, election calendar and a comprehensive 2018 electoral roadmap. Whereas Zesn appreciates the indicative timelines given by the Zec chairperson regarding the availability of the provisional voters' roll, the network believes that a detailed roadmap with specific start and end dates for key electoral processes should be availed forthwith," Zesn said.
THE MDC-T has challenged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to engage an independent firm to audit the final voters' roll to flush out ghost voters ahead of this year's general elections.
Party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said external auditors were required for the voters' roll to pass the credibility test.
"We demand that external auditors be allowed to look at the voters' roll before it is used in the elections, Zec said it will do an internal audit, but that is not enough, Zec, through a tender, should invite an audit firm which goes through the roll," he said.
He also demanded that Zec should release an a final voters' roll that can be analysed at least 60 days before the elections to allow opposition political parties to go through it.
"The law says that a voters' roll cannot be challenged or amended 30 days before the elections, what this means is that we need to get the final voters' roll at least 60 days before polling so that we can analyse it and take it through a credibility test, Zec should, therefore, release it on time," he said.
Zec chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba, however, said the commission would allow independent auditors to voluntarily audit the provisional voters' roll which would be released end of next month.
"After we produce the provisional voters' roll, it will then lie open for inspection, it is at that time that people are allowed to look at it, inspect it and those who want to audit our work will have the opportunity to do that at that stage, after which we will then come up with the final voters' roll," she said.
Zec could, however, not guarantee that they will be able to release the voters' roll 60 days before elections, only saying they will do everything within their power to have it ready.
Independent elections watchdog Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (Zesn) said the announcements by Zec were not sufficient to deal with putting the roll to test.
"In order to afford electoral stakeholders ample time to plan various interventions in support of the various electoral processes preceding the 2018 elections, Zesn reiterates its calls for a detailed operational plan, election calendar and a comprehensive 2018 electoral roadmap. Whereas Zesn appreciates the indicative timelines given by the Zec chairperson regarding the availability of the provisional voters' roll, the network believes that a detailed roadmap with specific start and end dates for key electoral processes should be availed forthwith," Zesn said.
Source - newsday
