that day in the absence of a legal instrument to support the process. If anything, this goes to show the haphazard nature in which the amendments to the Electoral Act have been effected in the past-a concern which has been previously raised by ZESN. Clause 5 Recommendation There seems to be a need for specific provisions in the Electoral Act that set out the legal parameters of BVR system. In its current formulation the Electoral Act does not envisage an entirely new form of registration system such as the BVR system. This amendment deals with one of the most contentious issues raised in previous elections relating to the use of the voters’ registration slips by voters whose names were not appearing on the voters’ roll on election day despite having registered to vote. The acceptance of the voters’ slip was an implicit acceptance by the electoral body that the voters’ roll was not in order as many people who had registered were missing from the voters’ roll and ended up voting using the voter’s slip on election day, as evidenced by the 2013 national election. This clause proposes to repeal the provision to section 56(I)(a) of the Electoral Act that entitles a person whose name does not appear on the voters’ roll to vote upon production of a voter’s registration certificate The extremely high number of voters’ slips seen in the 2013 election raised controversy and (voters slip) suspicions that persons disentitled to vote took advantage and abused the facility to repeatedly vote thereby affecting the credibility of the election. ZESN has previously raised concerns on the use of registration slips especially in subsequent by-elections held after the 2013 elections. The proposed amendment is therefore welcome. It is consistent with constitutional provisions enshrined in section 155. However, the proposed amendment may still retain to haunt future processes, in the absence of a clean and comprehensive voters’ roll that accurately captures names of all eligible voters. Every previous election has been 6|Page AN ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL ©ZESN 2017

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