ZEC urged to restart voter registration

By Samuel Takawira

HARARE – Civil society organizations in Zimbabwe have registered their displeasure over the recently ended voter registration process saying that it was inadequate, chaotic, and slow.

Speaking at a CSO’s joint press conference held on Wednesday Dr Solomon Zwana the chairperson Zimbabwe Election Support Network expressed his dismay over the implementation of the of the voter registration process.

“The process was hampered by a dearth of information, publicity and limited voter education. We noted the exclusion of key stakeholders such as the church and the civil society who were not accredited to compliment the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in providing voter education,” said Dr Zwana.

“The centres were not in proportion to the intended beneficiaries leaving many communities without the services or citizens having to travel long distances to register as voters,” said Dr Zwana.

He said the manner in which the methodology of the exercise was crafted did not reflect any due consideration of the special needs of groups such as women, the youths and the elderly.

Speaking at the same press conference the Chairperson of Crisis Zimbabwe Coalition, Okay Machisa blasted the manner in which the voter registration process was conducted.

“Mobile units and static centres were plagued with an excruciating slow pace of processing applications for registration resulting in long slow moving queues particularly in urban centers,” said Machisa.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights director Irene Petras pressed the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to be transparent on the requirements and timelines pertaining to voter education.