News / National
ZEC secures chopper to ferry ballot materials
30 Jul 2013 at 04:12hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has secured a helicopter and a ferry to expedite the movement of ballot material after voting in areas such as Kariba and Chongola in the harmonised elections tomorrow.
Some polling stations are on Lake Kariba islands and in previous elections were the last to convey their materials and voting figures.
Zec Mashonaland West elections manager Mr Kenneth Kwaramba said almost everything was in place for the elections in the province.
"We are almost ready save for a few areas that still need to be polished up, but overall everything is now in place," he said.
"We have secured a helicopter to airlift materials on voting day to ensure that the process is as smooth as possible."
Apart from the helicopter, ZEC would also use a ferry and speed boats to traverse the gigantic water body where access by road is generally untenable owing to the rugged terrain.
Mr Kwaramba said fuel to use in the province, which includes about 70 000 litres of diesel and 50 000 litres of petrol, had been secured while the commission had also secured enough vehicles to cover the 1 303 polling stations in the province.
He said the special ballot cast recently had already been delivered to the 231 collation centres across the province and were being looked after in preparation for their opening during counting at the close of voting tomorrow.
Mr Kwaramba said training of polling and electoral officers was in progress, adding that deployment of personnel was ongoing with most of the people now at their bases.
The province faced delays in the conveyance of results to the command centres during the referendum in February and Mr Kwaramba said the loopholes identified during that process were being plugged by coming up with better options such as use of a helicopter and the ferries.
Some polling stations are on Lake Kariba islands and in previous elections were the last to convey their materials and voting figures.
Zec Mashonaland West elections manager Mr Kenneth Kwaramba said almost everything was in place for the elections in the province.
"We are almost ready save for a few areas that still need to be polished up, but overall everything is now in place," he said.
"We have secured a helicopter to airlift materials on voting day to ensure that the process is as smooth as possible."
Apart from the helicopter, ZEC would also use a ferry and speed boats to traverse the gigantic water body where access by road is generally untenable owing to the rugged terrain.
Mr Kwaramba said fuel to use in the province, which includes about 70 000 litres of diesel and 50 000 litres of petrol, had been secured while the commission had also secured enough vehicles to cover the 1 303 polling stations in the province.
He said the special ballot cast recently had already been delivered to the 231 collation centres across the province and were being looked after in preparation for their opening during counting at the close of voting tomorrow.
Mr Kwaramba said training of polling and electoral officers was in progress, adding that deployment of personnel was ongoing with most of the people now at their bases.
The province faced delays in the conveyance of results to the command centres during the referendum in February and Mr Kwaramba said the loopholes identified during that process were being plugged by coming up with better options such as use of a helicopter and the ferries.
Source - herald
