News / Local
Voter registration blitz kicks off
23 Jan 2022 at 02:59hrs | Views
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will begin conducting a nationwide voter registration blitz next week to beef up the number of registered voters ahead of the delimitation exercise later this year.
This will be conducted in two phases, with the first running from February 1-28, while the second phase will be rolled out from April 11-30.
In an interview broadcast on Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN) on Thursday, ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said the commission will announce its Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kit deployment plan soon.
She said the blitz will run concurrently with the issuing of Identity Documents to first time voters through the Register General's office.
The RG plans to resume mass issuance of IDs this month.
"We are ready for the blitz, we have done all our procurements, there will be communication to stakeholders on the kit deployment plan," she said.
"In the past when we did a voter registration blitz, when we created a new voters' roll, we had synergies with the Registrar General's office. When we availed our kit deployment plan, the RG would also deploy a team to support our exercise.
"Now the RG's office has indicated to us that they are incapacitated.
"However, the RG ‘s office went to the Parliamentary Portfolio committee about their capacitation and will be able to start issuing IDs in January.
"That is why we moved the voter registration blitz to February because it is informing delimitation not by-elections."
The mass voter registration campaign was postponed in December after Covid-19 outbreaks at three ZEC offices, coupled with the need for the RG's office to adequately prepare for issuing civic documents concurrently.
Justice Chigumba said the voter registration was geared to assist with the delimitation exercise and not the forthcoming by-elections.
This will be conducted in two phases, with the first running from February 1-28, while the second phase will be rolled out from April 11-30.
In an interview broadcast on Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN) on Thursday, ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said the commission will announce its Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kit deployment plan soon.
She said the blitz will run concurrently with the issuing of Identity Documents to first time voters through the Register General's office.
The RG plans to resume mass issuance of IDs this month.
"We are ready for the blitz, we have done all our procurements, there will be communication to stakeholders on the kit deployment plan," she said.
"Now the RG's office has indicated to us that they are incapacitated.
"However, the RG ‘s office went to the Parliamentary Portfolio committee about their capacitation and will be able to start issuing IDs in January.
"That is why we moved the voter registration blitz to February because it is informing delimitation not by-elections."
The mass voter registration campaign was postponed in December after Covid-19 outbreaks at three ZEC offices, coupled with the need for the RG's office to adequately prepare for issuing civic documents concurrently.
Justice Chigumba said the voter registration was geared to assist with the delimitation exercise and not the forthcoming by-elections.
Source - The Sunday Mail
