The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said the final nationwide mobile biometric voter registration will begin next Sunday as preparations for 2023 harmonized elections gather momentum.
The voter registration campaign will precede various other activities, including opening the voters’ roll for public inspection.
ZEC chief elections officer, Mr. Utloile Silaigwana, said preparations for the harmonized elections had commenced. The Sunday Mail cites him as saying:
The commission will undertake a nationwide mobile voter registration exercise from March 12 to 21, 2023, as it normally does before any general election.
The voter registration blitz will provide an opportunity for new registrants to register and for the existing registrants to apply for transfers.
Currently, trainings to equip voter educators, voter registration officers and their supervisors is underway in preparation for the blitz.
Preparing for elections is not different from preparing for any major electoral process.
It entails planning for both human and material resources, capacitation of officers, (and) mobilisation of resources.
The commission is finalising the roadmap to the elections, which will be shared with stakeholders once the election date has been proclaimed by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
ZEC requires $128,6 billion for the elections.
Treasury has always honoured its obligation to fund the commission.
The programme will be multi-faceted and entail engaging various stakeholder groups, deployment of voter education officers, use of both print and electronic media and the use of the ZEC website and social media platforms.
He also said the Constitution of the Multi-Party Liaison Committee will help with the resolution of all possible disputes during the election period.
Eligible voters will still be able to register until two days after the proclamation of the election date by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
According to ZEC’s preliminary 2023 elections roadmap, the polls management body is preparing for an extensive post-delimitation awareness programme to explain to the electorate the new electoral boundaries.
This process will lead to other routine electoral procedures such as accreditation of observers and the media, production of the voters’ roll, the constitution of the nomination court and establishment of the Multi-Party Liaison Committee.
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