ZESN - Promoting Democratic Elections in Zimbabwe Fig 1. Numbers of urban registrants and the census populations 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 18-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 VR 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 2012 90-94 95-99 100-104 105-109 110+ 2018 Rural Registrants against Census Populations In rural Zimbabwe, the number of registered voters was higher than census data in the 35-49 years and 55-69 years age categories. Figure 2 below shows the numbers of rural registrants and census populations. The graph shows that, the results seemed to suggest that young adults, especially those 39 years and below, living in urban areas were underregistered when compared to those 40 years and above. Figure 2: Numbers of Rural Registrants and Census Populations 800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 18-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 VR 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 2012 Registration rates for urban areas and younger registrants continue to lag behind those of rural areas and older registrants for the 2018 FVR – though not as much as for the 2013 preliminary voters' roll (PVR). The registration rate in rural areas was 83% compared to 72% in urban areas – for the 2013 PVR, the rural registration rate was 97% and the urban registration rate was 66%. While the ZEC allocated additional BVR kits to rural areas that led to high registration rates for rural and older voters, the ZEC did not, despite 90-94 95-99 100-104 105-109 110+ 2018 requests, make similar efforts to ensure higher registration rates for urban and young voters. This disparity undermined the inclusiveness of the voter registration process. Zimbabwe Population Comparison The final voters' roll population of registrants was lower than both the baseline census data and the 2018 projections of the adult population. Figure 3 below compares the FVR population with census data for 2012 and 2018. 32 REPORT ON THE 30 JULY 2018 HARMONISED ELECTIONS ZESN