News / National
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission briefs poll observers
23 Jul 2013 at 19:06hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it will approach the Constitutional Court to grant people who failed to vote during the special vote an opportunity to exercise their right to vote on the 31st of July.
This was revealed during an observers briefing by ZEC.
International, regional and local observers and ambassadors accredited to Zimbabwe attended the second briefing by ZEC that was held at a local hotel in Harare on Tuesday morning.
ZEC Deputy Chairperson, Joyce Kazembe outlined the progress made by the commission to date to align the electoral laws with the provisions of the new constitution.
During the brief, Mrs Kazembe explained that out of the 63268 people who were authorised to vote during the days designated for the special voting exercise, 37000 managed to vote while 26160 failed to do so due to logistical challenges.
She however said ZEC is making efforts to ensure that all the people who were authorised to vote on the 14th and the 15th of this month are accorded a chance to exercise their right to vote.
Mrs Kazembe assured the observers that preparations for the elections to be held on Wednesday next week are on course and all the necessary logistics such as translucent ballot boxes, indelible ink and polling booths have now been procured.
She said distribution of ballot papers commenced on Tuesday in four provinces, while the remaining provinces will get ballot papers on Wednesday.
"As we speak we are actually carrying consignments to 4 provinces of completely printed ballot paper for the presidential, house of assembly and local authority elections. There are 6 provinces that have been completed with respect to printing and for the remaining 4, the job will be completed tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
"As for the day after on the 25th, we will be able to complete the dispatch of ballot paper to the provinces for onward deployment to the respective polling stations," said Mrs Kazembe.
Observers raised various issues among them the number of people who are eligible to vote against the number of people who are over 18 according to the 2012 census, the fate of people who were authorised to vote but were unable to do so as well as the way the voter registration was conducted.
Commissioners from ZEC told the observers that each polling station will have three ballot boxes for the presidential, National Assembly and the local authority votes, while the number of polling booths will be determined by the size of the polling station.
Mrs Kazembe said ZEC has identified 9670 polling stations across the country, which is almost similar to the number used during the referendum.
ZEC also said as of this Monday the 22nd of July, 6650 local observers, 589 foreign observers, 294 local journalists and 28 foreign journalists have been accredited.
This was revealed during an observers briefing by ZEC.
International, regional and local observers and ambassadors accredited to Zimbabwe attended the second briefing by ZEC that was held at a local hotel in Harare on Tuesday morning.
ZEC Deputy Chairperson, Joyce Kazembe outlined the progress made by the commission to date to align the electoral laws with the provisions of the new constitution.
During the brief, Mrs Kazembe explained that out of the 63268 people who were authorised to vote during the days designated for the special voting exercise, 37000 managed to vote while 26160 failed to do so due to logistical challenges.
She however said ZEC is making efforts to ensure that all the people who were authorised to vote on the 14th and the 15th of this month are accorded a chance to exercise their right to vote.
Mrs Kazembe assured the observers that preparations for the elections to be held on Wednesday next week are on course and all the necessary logistics such as translucent ballot boxes, indelible ink and polling booths have now been procured.
"As we speak we are actually carrying consignments to 4 provinces of completely printed ballot paper for the presidential, house of assembly and local authority elections. There are 6 provinces that have been completed with respect to printing and for the remaining 4, the job will be completed tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
"As for the day after on the 25th, we will be able to complete the dispatch of ballot paper to the provinces for onward deployment to the respective polling stations," said Mrs Kazembe.
Observers raised various issues among them the number of people who are eligible to vote against the number of people who are over 18 according to the 2012 census, the fate of people who were authorised to vote but were unable to do so as well as the way the voter registration was conducted.
Commissioners from ZEC told the observers that each polling station will have three ballot boxes for the presidential, National Assembly and the local authority votes, while the number of polling booths will be determined by the size of the polling station.
Mrs Kazembe said ZEC has identified 9670 polling stations across the country, which is almost similar to the number used during the referendum.
ZEC also said as of this Monday the 22nd of July, 6650 local observers, 589 foreign observers, 294 local journalists and 28 foreign journalists have been accredited.
Source - zbc
