ZIMBABWE ELECTION SUPPORT NETWORK
PROMOTING DEMOCRATIC
ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE
AN ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL, 2017, GAZZETTED 18 SEPTEMBER 2017
Introduction
A Bill proposing to amend the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:3] was gazetted on 18 September 2017. Titled, the Electoral Amendment Bill, 2017,
the Bill seeks to introduce amendments that specifically deal with the voter registration process. The proposed amendments largely cater
for the introduction of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system. In this position paper, ZESN discusses the proposed amendments
considering the Constitutional principles that set out the minimum thresholds of free, fair, peaceful and credible elections.
Executive Summary
A closer scrutiny of this Bill shows that it largely mirrors a law passed a week earlier, through the gazetting of Statutory Instrument (SI)
117/2017, on the 15th of September 2017, through the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act. The Bill is meant to eventually
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AN ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL ©ZESN 2017