Ziyambi Absolves ZEC From Voters' Roll Manipulation Allegations
Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) does not remove voters from their polling stations without their consent.
Ziyambi said this while responding to questions on the voters’ roll in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
In February this year, Team Pachedu alleged that ZEC had illegally moved 170 000 voters from their original constituencies and wards in the voters’ roll that was used for the 26 March by-elections.
Ziyambi said ZEC had not received any formal complaint about removing voters from their registered polling stations without their approval. He said:
ZEC advises that it is not aware of any formal report wherein it has been alleged that it has moved voters from their registered polling stations without their consent.
What the commission is aware of are the powers granted to it by section 35 of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13), which provides that a voters roll may be altered by the commission at any time to correct any error or omission, or to change the original name or address of the voter to an altered name or address; which is done by the voter registration officer at any time by correcting any obvious mistake or omission, or by changing on the written application of a voter, the original name or address of the voter to an altered name or address.
Ziyambi added that the Electoral Act stipulates that a notice of alteration of a voter is published in the Government Gazette by the commission or voter registration officer. Said Ziyambi:
The commission recommends that where there are known incidents of voters being moved from their polling stations without their consent, a formal report must be filed at ZEC provincial offices, or an appeal of any decision of an alteration must be made by the commission or voter registration officer to a designated magistrate within the affected voter’s province.
On the diaspora vote, Ziyambi said that currently there is no law that regulates voting by citizens in the diaspora.
