By Nomalanga Moyo
The mobile voter registration exercise ended Sunday amid an outcry from all corners of the country that the exercise was poorly conducted and dismally failed to meet demand.
The just-ended 20-day programme, which was controversial from the start, ran from April 29th until May 19th with revelations that registration teams only covered a third of the country’s 1,958 wards.
Last week cabinet called on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to announce a fresh voter registration exercise, to be preceded by a massive voter awareness and publicity campaign.
The exercise suffered a crisis of confidence, with concerns raised over the unfair distribution of registration centres, the few teams conducting the exercise as well as the stringent requirements.
On Monday, the ZANU PF-controlled Herald newspaper reported that ZEC had already planned for a new 30-day voter registration exercise in preparation “for the harmonised elections expected next month”.
The newspaper also quoted the electoral body’s chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau, as saying the Commission will issue a comprehensive statement about the registration exercise sometime this week.
Responding to the Herald report, the MDC secretary for legal affairs Senator David Coltart said the article was misleading regarding both the voter registration exercise and the timing of the election.
In a statement posted on his Facebook Wall, Coltart said the Herald was promoting “two misconceptions which have been brought about by ZANU PF propaganda.”
Coltart explained that the voter registration exercise was not at the discretion of ZEC, but that the Commission was required by law “to conduct a special and intensive voter registration and voters roll inspection exercise for at least 30 days” after the new constitution has been signed.
The new constitution is now awaiting Presidential assent, followed by publication in the government gazette. The 30-day period will start from the time it is published in the Gazette.
The senator said that the voter registration exercise is therefore not discretionary: “It is a mandatory exercise that has to be intensive and widespread to enable every prospective eligible voter to be registered, not the arbitrary and patchy exercise we have seen over the last few weeks.”
He further slammed the state media for persisting “with the increasingly ridiculous proposition that the election can somehow be held in June”. He said given the mandatory 30-day registration requirement, it is not feasible for any meaningful election campaign to be conducted before June 29th.
According to Coltart, if Mugabe went ahead with the June election date he will be violating the current Electoral Act and while it is going to be amended, this is only possible with the consent of the MDC-dominated parliament.
“No matter what ZANU PF’s plans may be, if they cannot get the agreement of those who control the majority of the House of Assembly and if they wish to push ahead with unilateral plans to have an election in June, they are stuck with the current Electoral Act.”
Speaking to SW Radio Africa, MDC elections director Ellen Shiriyedenga revealed that the president was legally required to allow at least 28 days from the date of the nomination court (when political parties submit their candidates to the electoral body) before the poll is held.
“If the new constitution is gazetted today that means that the election cannot under any circumstances be held before July 31st,” Shiriyedenga said.
She said all these processes, including the United Nations World Tourism Conference in August, suggest that the only practical time for the general polls to be conducted will be in September.
Meanwhile Allison Charuma, an MDC-T youth from Warren Park in Harare who was arrested on Friday at a local voter registration station, is expected to appear in court Tuesday to face forgery charges.
Circumstances of Charuma’s arrest are hazy but according to defence lawyer, Kudzai Kadzere, his client is accused of misrepresenting himself as a landlord and writing a proof of residence letter for another person.
However, Charuma denies the charge or even knowing either the recipient of the letter or the landlord. He is being charged under the Criminal Law (Reform & Codification) Act. SW Radio Africa
