Over 17 000 qualify for postal voting: ZEC

OVER 17 000 voters drawn from the diplomatic service, uniformed forces and election officials have been cleared to cast their votes ahead of polling day on August 23 when they will be away on official duty.

More than 18 000 people had applied for postal votes.

Those who qualify include members of the disciplined forces, as well as electoral officers, diplomatic and consular officials working outside the country and their spouses.

However, ongoing election-related court cases have delayed the dispatch of voting materials after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) suspended the printing of ballot papers that will be used for the presidential election, as well as in more than a dozen National Assembly polls.

Last week, the Government gazetted Statutory Instrument 140A of 2023, which extended the deadline for the submission of postal voting materials to ZEC from August 9 to August 20 owing to delays occasioned by the court cases.

ZEC chief elections officer Mr Utloile Silaigwana yesterday said: "The commission is yet to dispatch postal ballots to successful applicants as the commission has been unable to print ballot papers in areas where there are court cases and appeals arising from the nomination outcome.

"There are 17 483 successful applicants eligible to vote by post."

Postal voting is provided for under Section 71 of the Electoral Act, which states that registered voters who will be unable to vote at their polling stations on election day because they will be on official duty are eligible for postal voting.

The process is open to those who apply not more than 14 days after the sitting of the Nomination Court.

Successful applicants receive their voting material in advance and will be required to send their votes in sealed envelopes to the chief elections officer, who will then distribute postal votes to their respective constituencies.

The postal votes are later sent to their respective ward centres before polling day.

They are only opened for counting at the ward centre, when counting of votes cast on polling day commences.

Added Mr Silaigwana: "Section 75(1)(d) of the Electoral Act has been amended by Statutory Instrument 140A of 2023, which has altered the minimum period in which the chief elections officer must receive postal votes from a minimum of 14 days from polling to a minimum of three days before polling.

"This means that the deadline for receipt of ballot papers by the chief elections officer (CEO) is now August 20, 2023, and not August 9, 2023."

A court application filed last week by a presidential aspirant challenging his exclusion from contesting the election, he said, had stalled printing of ballot papers for the poll.

Mr Saviour Kasukuwere filed an application at the Constitutional Court seeking an order to quash a ruling by the Supreme Court that upheld a High Court order nullifying his nomination to run as a presidential candidate.

"The printing of presidential ballot papers has been stalled until the finalisation of a pending appeal by one of the disqualified presidential candidates.

"Printing of ballot papers for the National Assembly is almost complete save for areas where Nomination Court petitions have not been concluded.

"The commission will advise of the printing timelines soon after the conclusion of the outstanding appeal, which is currently before the courts."