Voter registration in Epworth and Mbire was ward-based whilst registration in Marondera was polling station based. The basis for this new form of voter registration is the Electoral Amendment Act, Number 3 of 2012 which, in section 42(1) obliges ZEC to carry out registration on a polling station specific basis. The operation of this section is suspended until such time as ZEC announces the date of its commencement. The calling by ZEC to conduct this pilot project is therefore a pre-cursor to such an announcement in the future. In accordance with its mandate under section 5(d)(iii) of the Electoral Act which obligates the Commission to keep the public informed about the location and boundaries of polling stations, ZEC announced that the registration centres opened in the wards would be the polling stations used for the 19 September, 2015 poll. The Commission also indicated that the demarcation of polling stations was done in such a manner as to have a threshold of between 800 to 1 500 registered voters per polling station. ZEC, through press releases, encouraged residents of Marondera Central to come out and register anew sighting the fact that this was an attempt by the Commission to create a polling station- based voters’ roll for the Constituency. The dates set for the registration and inspection were in accordance with Section 26A of the Electoral Act which stipulates that the 12th day after nomination day is the last day for lodging a claim for registration on or transfer of registration to a voters’ roll for the purpose of voting in a pending election. Voters’ roll inspection was therefore conducted in accordance with the Law. Voters were able to inspect the voters’ roll in the 31 inspection centres located throughout the constituencies. ZESN volunteers who reside in Marondera Central reported that there were `block registrations’ taking place, where some residents were being forced to register in blocks by a certain ward secretary belonging to ZANU-PF. This was happening in the Chitepo area (Ward 4, Tatonga Street). This was tantamount to electoral malpractice and ZESN recommends that ZEC should investigate this matter thoroughly. 6.2. Provision of the Voters’ Roll According to Section 21 (1) of the Electoral Act, the Commission shall within a reasonable period of time provide any person who requests the voters’ roll, and who pays the prescribed fee, with a copy of any ward or constituency voters’ roll, either in printed or in electronic form as the person may request. The Electoral Law also provides for the provision of the voters’ roll upon payment of a prescribed fee to every political party that intends to contest the election, and to any accredited observer who requests it, one copy of every voters’ roll to be used in the election, either in printed or in electronic form as the party or observer may request. The provision of the voters’ roll to stakeholders has been an issue of contention, raising questions on its integrity and credibility. The 2013 electronic version of the voters’ roll has not been given to stakeholders as the Registrar- General’s office has been faced with alleged technical problems of replicating the roll. However, for these byelections, the Commission made available copies of the constituency rolls to all the contesting candidates who requested. However, ZESN remains concerned that for the Marondera Central by-election, ZEC compiled two separate voters’ rolls. The intention of the Commission to use two voters’ rolls 12 | P a g e