MDC urges electorate to inspect voters' roll

THE Welshman Ncube-led MDC has called on the electorate to take the ongoing voters' roll inspection seriously and check if their details were properly captured on the roll to avoid being turned away on election day.

The call came as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has invited registered voters to visit polling stations dotted around the country to inspect the voters' roll before compilation of the final voters' roll to be used in elections expected by August this year.

MDC spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi yesterday said his party had noted several disparities on the preliminary roll and urged voters to check if their names were properly captured.

"Gross irregularities during the exercise have been cited in most parts of the country. While we commend Zec for introducing various platforms such as the Zec website and the bulk short message service (SMS) platform, we submit that these are not adequate as they have proven to be not without shortfalls," he said.

"MDC has noted that scores of people have cited disparities with regards to the online platform facilities vis-à-vis physical verification. For instance some SMSs sent out indicate that one's details are in order yet when they visit the centres the details would be in shambles."

Chihwayi said while it may be time consuming for some, they urge prospective voters' to physically go to the centres and check that their names are correctly spelt; correct gender is entered as well as polling station and national identification number so that they do not cry foul tomorrow when the election is stolen.

"In some centres, prospective new registrants are failing to register due to unavailability or constant malfunctioning of biometric voter registration kits. For example, on the first day of inspection, there was no registration kit at K8 Primary School in Kuwadzana," Chihwayi said.

"That was the case on Sunday, a situation we strongly feel leads to disenfranchisement of voters. The devil is in the voters' roll. The MDC warns that unless the voters' roll is thoroughly cleaned before elections, its credibility is suspect and that snowballs to the polls."

He said Zimbabwe has never had a clean, credible and uncontested voters' roll casting doubt on having free, fair and credible polls.

"As MDC, we encourage prospective voters' to swarm verification centres and physically cross-check their details. Equally we urge Zec staff to expeditiously attend to concerns raised by prospective voters," he said. MDC-T secretary for elections, Murisi Zwizwai also implored registrants to go in their numbers to inspect the provisional voters' roll.

"People must go to designated centres and check if their names, ID numbers, residential address and their polling stations are entered correctly. People must take their Identity documents like a valid passport or national ID and also their voter's slip," he said to Real Change Times.

"So we encourage all Zimbabweans to inspect the voters' roll."