ZEC warns civic, political parties

CIVIL society organisations and political parties must not give incentives for people to register as voters since that might entice those already on the voters roll to register multiple times resulting in a superficial false impression of the actual numbers, a senior official has said.

Presenting a paper titled, "Zimbabwe's Electoral Challenges: Electoral Reforms, and 2023 Election Preparations", to participants of the National Defence Course at the National Defence University in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba, said double registration had cost implications for the commission while also giving a false impression on the actual numbers on the voters roll.

"Civil society organisations and political parties were and are still being advised to desist from giving voter registration incentives as this may entice those already on the voters roll to register multiple times. Although multiple registrations are eventually picked up by the automated fingerprint identification system, the practice gives an outward false impression of the actual numbers registered and has some cost implications on the commission."

Those intending to transfer from one voting station to another should inform the voter registration officer of their intention rather than register as new registrants. This is done when people move and need to transfer their registration to a new constituency and ward.

Justice Chigumba said ZEC was mandated to carry out its constitutional obligations without fear or favour contrary to claims from some civil society organisations and political parties that it was partisan.

"The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has a special place in our electoral democracy with its mandate to run the country's elections. As a public institution, we are ready to dispense our duty without fear or favour," she said.

 Justice Chigumba said ZEC will welcome changes to the legal framework if they are progressive and as a result of a consultative process and are done within a reasonable time-frame to allow for implementation.

"As a commission, we believe in continuous improvement through capacity building and continuous stakeholder engagement. We have also submitted a number of proposals which seek to amend the law in various aspects and aimed at improving the electoral process in general. These details will be shared with you and other stakeholders at the opportune time," she said.