The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) claims that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) gave them a PDF copy of the voters roll which is unanalysable and cannot be converted for use.
The party further cited that the existing copy has serious anomalies including missing names of thousands of registered voters.
This is happening when the nation is left with less than five weeks to hold harmonised general elections.
CCC through its deputy secretary for elections, Ellen Shiriyedenga, told the media on Wednesday that they have already engaged the election management body for a usable voters roll.
“It is of concern in this regard that ZEC is in breach of this legal provision as it provided electronic copies of the voters roll in PDF format PDF is an output format intended for reading purposes only with no provision for analysis.
“The restrictions in these PDF files are such that one cannot convert into an analysable format nor print. Ultimately, this renders it impossible to analyse, group or filter specific data variables like age registered voters for a particular Constituency, Ward or polling station.
“We wrote to ZEC on July 14 requesting the EMB to abide by the provisions of the Act and provide voters rolls that are analysable preferably in an excel format as was in the previous case or Microsoft Access. We await their response,” Shiriyedenga said.
The plebiscite will be held on the 23rd of August this year.
Shiriyedenga added that the inspection of the voters roll will help in making sure that registered voters are not disenfranchised.
“The impetus for providing the voters roll to candidates is not only for campaign purposes, but also for verifying the eligibility of the registered voters within their areas of jurisdiction.
“The voters roll audit of 2022 and the Voters roll Inspection of 26 to 30 May 2023 unravelled a lot of anomalies as evidenced by thousands of people involuntarily removed from the voters roll, polling stations incongruent with the new delimitation boundaries, voter displacements and polling station allocations in distant areas, and in some instances in over 10km away from their areas of residence.
“It is on this basis that CCC and the Citizens of Zimbabwe in general are keen to ascertain if these anomalies have been rectified. The voters roll audit will assure the affected Citizens that they will not be disenfranchised from exercising their right to vote on election day,” she said.
