EU offers fund to audit Zim's first biometric voters' roll

THE European Union (EU) has offered to provide funding for an audit of Zimbabwe's first biometric voters' roll ahead of this year's general elections, as part of measures to promote transparency and public confidence after opposition parties raised a red flag over the conduct of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec).

EU ambassador to Zimbabwe, Philippe Van Damme announced the decision on Twitter yesterday.

"We indeed plan to fund an external audit of the final voters' roll as a confidence building measure," he said in a tweet tagging Zec and independent electoral watchdog, Zimbabwe Elections Support Network.

British deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe, Simon Thomas, also gave the thumbs up to the proposed audit, saying: "An extremely important step, and one that the UK is very pleased to be associated with."

MDC-T secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora welcomed the development, saying it would help flush out ghost voters ahead of the polls.

Zec chairperson, Priscilla Chigumba (pictured) declined to comment on the matter.

"I am not at liberty to comment on statements made by the EU ambassador, so I will not say anything on that," she said.

Chigumba, however, said the final voters' roll would be completed two days after the nomination court's seating, with the registration exercise set to be closed on the day President Emmerson Mnangagwa proclaims the election dates.

The final voters' roll, according to Chigumba, will then be provided electronically to political parties for free, while the printed version would have a fee.