News / National
800 000 new voters register
24 Jan 2016 at 05:49hrs | Views
Over 800 000 voters have registered with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to vote since the commission took over the voters roll early last year, increasing the size of the electorate to 6,4 million.
ZEC took over the function of registering voters from the Registrar-General's Office in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
The new voters were drawn from constituencies where ZEC conducted by-elections last year.
Responding to questions from The Sunday Mail, ZEC spokesperson Mr Justin Manyau said the registrants include some voters who were on the old voters roll.
"ZEC has registered a total of 812 752 voters since the beginning of 2015 when it assumed the role of voter registration for the first time. The exercise was conducted in areas with pending by-elections only.
"However, it should be noted that the figure also includes voters that were already on the old voters' roll of 2013 as well as new registrants.
"The total number of registered voters appearing on the country's voters' roll as at 15 December, 2015, is 6,4 million people," he said.
Late last year, ZEC launched a nationwide voter registration exercise to capture all eligible voters by the end of 2016.
A mop-up exercise will be carried out next year ahead of the 2018 general election.
The nationwide exercise will cost more than US$50 million.
ZEC took over the function of registering voters from the Registrar-General's Office in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
The new voters were drawn from constituencies where ZEC conducted by-elections last year.
Responding to questions from The Sunday Mail, ZEC spokesperson Mr Justin Manyau said the registrants include some voters who were on the old voters roll.
"ZEC has registered a total of 812 752 voters since the beginning of 2015 when it assumed the role of voter registration for the first time. The exercise was conducted in areas with pending by-elections only.
"However, it should be noted that the figure also includes voters that were already on the old voters' roll of 2013 as well as new registrants.
"The total number of registered voters appearing on the country's voters' roll as at 15 December, 2015, is 6,4 million people," he said.
Late last year, ZEC launched a nationwide voter registration exercise to capture all eligible voters by the end of 2016.
A mop-up exercise will be carried out next year ahead of the 2018 general election.
The nationwide exercise will cost more than US$50 million.
Source - sundaymail
