Political Parties Express Concern After ZEC Reduces Voter Registration Centres

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) in Bulawayo on Friday, representatives of political parties expressed concern that most potential voters will not be registered following news that Zec has reduced biometric voter registration (BVR) centres during the extended voter registration exercise, which starts tomorrow and ends on February 8.

Zec has also reduced the number of voter registration machines allocated to each province to only six voter registration machines as compared to 110 machines, which were provided during the initial voter registration phases. Economic Reform Assembly president said:

The alien citizens will not have a fair and adequate time to exercise their rights since they got the waiver towards the end of the fourth phase. This is a great concern to us because most of these people will not have adequate time to sort out their documents. Again, Zec seems stingy with information pertaining to this exercise.

An MDC–T representative said 6 machines will not be able to cover the whole of Bulawayo. Said the official:

Six machines will not be adequate to cover the whole of Bulawayo in a month. I think Bulawayo deserves more registration centres because the city has a lot of aliens, who might want to vote following the recent ruling that they are entitled to voting.

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