News / National
Zanu-PF in massive voter registration drive
06 Oct 2020 at 07:13hrs | Views
ZANU-PF has implored its Bulawayo provincial leadership to rally residents to register en masse to vote following reports that the city risks losing some constituencies in the next delimitation exercise.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has been lamenting a poor turnout in its voter registration exercise in Bulawayo and warned that the city risks losing some constituencies in the next delimitation exercise.
Zec Bulawayo officials have set a target to register at least 400 000 voters in Bulawayo to ensure the city gets 15 constituencies up from the current 12 during the next delimitation exercise.
However, indications are that the city could lose at least three constituencies as the number of registered voters for the city falls far short of the minimum threshold.
Bulawayo currently has about 258 000 registered voters. Zanu-PF national political commissar Victor Matemadanda, who was in Bulawayo over the weekend, said the city cannot afford to lose constituencies, imploring the party's provincial leadership to lead the voter registration awareness campaigns.
"We encourage and challenge the provincial leadership to lead voter registration awareness campaigns to make sure more residents register to vote, and the city retains its constituencies," Matemadanda said during a provincial coordinating committee meeting held at Davies Hall on Saturday.
The party also held primary elections to select candidates to contest in the upcoming local government by-elections following the recall of eight councillors by MDC-T leader Thokozani Khupe.
Independent electoral watchdog, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network has also warned that Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South provinces were likely to lose some constituencies in the next demarcation exercise.
Bulawayo has been one of the opposition's strongholds since the formation of MDC in 1999. Zimbabwe last carried a delimitation exercise in 2007 ahead of the 2008 harmonised elections.
According to section 161 of the Constitution, electoral boundaries must be delimited once every 10 years after a census.
This means the next exercise was supposed to be held in 2023, but has since been brought forward to 2021.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has been lamenting a poor turnout in its voter registration exercise in Bulawayo and warned that the city risks losing some constituencies in the next delimitation exercise.
Zec Bulawayo officials have set a target to register at least 400 000 voters in Bulawayo to ensure the city gets 15 constituencies up from the current 12 during the next delimitation exercise.
However, indications are that the city could lose at least three constituencies as the number of registered voters for the city falls far short of the minimum threshold.
Bulawayo currently has about 258 000 registered voters. Zanu-PF national political commissar Victor Matemadanda, who was in Bulawayo over the weekend, said the city cannot afford to lose constituencies, imploring the party's provincial leadership to lead the voter registration awareness campaigns.
The party also held primary elections to select candidates to contest in the upcoming local government by-elections following the recall of eight councillors by MDC-T leader Thokozani Khupe.
Independent electoral watchdog, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network has also warned that Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South provinces were likely to lose some constituencies in the next demarcation exercise.
Bulawayo has been one of the opposition's strongholds since the formation of MDC in 1999. Zimbabwe last carried a delimitation exercise in 2007 ahead of the 2008 harmonised elections.
According to section 161 of the Constitution, electoral boundaries must be delimited once every 10 years after a census.
This means the next exercise was supposed to be held in 2023, but has since been brought forward to 2021.
Source - newsday
