Key Considerations for ZEC Electoral Regulations ZESN as part of its mandate to promote democratic electoral processes in Zimbabwe is calling for consideration of the following key issues in the crafting of the electoral regulations pertaining to voter registration as Zimbabwe is scheduled to implement a biometric voter registration exercise in 2017: 1. Transparency and Open Data Policy  In order to ensure confidence and transparency the Regulations should promote the Open Data Policy a concept that has been adopted by other Commissions in Africa e.g. Kenya.  The Election Regulations should ensure that election data such as voters’ rolls, number of registered voters, costs is made available timeously for it to be useful. Timely publication of election data is essential because it feeds into several decision making and participatory processes.  The Electoral Regulations should provide for ZEC to collect and analyse baseline data that informs how many voters the Commission will be targeting for the voter registration processes. This information should be availed to electoral stakeholders as it is critical.  The Regulations should specify the steps for the voter registration exercise including key processes such as the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) equipment tendering and procurement.  Procurement is one of the most critical steps in BVR deployment therefore the Regulations should ensure that adequate time is allocated for it and that the process is open to a public tender process and public scrutiny of the decision-making process and engagement of the service provider.  The Regulations should provide for the need for ZEC to conduct comprehensive stakeholder consultations with political parties, the media and CSOs on pertinent information on the BVR system such as feasibility and administrative procedures to enhance accountability and trust.  The Regulations should ensure that readable, analyzable and up to date election information is availed at the finest possible level of detail such as copies of voters’ rolls and election results at the polling station level. The provision of analyzable electoral information at the granular level is essential for promoting transparency and accountability.  To enhance confidence and trust the Regulations should provide for mechanisms that ensure access to all pertinent data that allows observers and agents to make fair 2 Zimbabwe Election Support Network ©2016