Rita Makarau has been chosen as the director of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The Southern African state held elections in March and will again in July of 2013., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Over 300 000 off voters’ roll
Sunday, 14 April 2013 00:00
Kuda Bwititi
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail
Over 60 000 new voters have registered in time for this year’s polls while about 345 400 names of deceased people have been struck off the national voters’ roll in the last five months.
The latest developments bring the total number of registered voters to almost 5, 7 million.
In 2008, the national voters’ roll stood at 5 934 769. The figure had been trimmed to 5 589 355 by last November after which it rose to 5 651 600.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau, told The Sunday Mail last week that many Zimbabweans were showing interest to register as voters as the harmonised elections drew closer.
She said contrary to claims by some political parties that the roll was full of dead people, the voters’ register was being updated constantly.
“We are noticing a growing interest to register as voters. Currently, there are 5 651 600 voters registered on the national roll,” she said.
“Our voters’ roll is not static, but, is updated from time to time to accommodate additions and removals. Voter registration is continuous and people can register as voters at the various centers across the country.”
Justice Makarau said the mobile voter registration exercise, which was expected to begin in January this year, would be rolled out once funds were available adding that her commission was ready to run this year’s plebiscite.
“As soon as our funding position permits, it is the intention of ZEC to ensure that the Registrar-General of Voters embarks on a mobile voter registration exercise so that we bring registration to the people rather that requesting them to travel to registration centres.
“ZEC is prepared to hold an election in accordance to the Electoral Law as soon as proclamation of the polling is gazetted. ZEC requires adequate time to prepare for elections within the time frame laid by the law; whatever number of days that may translate into.”
Responding to allegations that the March 16 referendum outcome was inaccurate, Justice Makarau said the commission had not received any formal objection to the referendum result.
“In terms of the Electoral Law, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has the sole responsibility to announce the results and anybody who purports to do so will be acting contrary to the law.
“In fact, the Chief Elections Officer is legally authorised to announce election results. Any other announcements are not only unlawful but without any legal force or effect,’’ she added.
Zimbabwe is due to hold harmonised elections this year following the March 16 referendum which endorsed the Draft Constitution. Although prospective voters have been registering at designated centres, mobile registration, which usually draws much larger numbers, has been on hold owing to a lack of funds.
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