meetings, talk shows, road shows, voter education and other activities. 6. Participation in key BVR processes like testing and tender process, e.g. BVR Kit validation and AFIS demonstrations, which improved ZEC transparency relating to these critical processes. This also enhanced stakeholder confidence in the process, and also enhanced stakeholders’ understanding of how the BVR system works, although this could have been increased had observers been allowed to ask questions and engage with bidding and assessing teams, even on the sidelines of the test process. 6.6 Adequacy of Time Allocated to the BVR Blitz In Zimbabwe voter Registration is an on-going process which is also periodically updated ahead of elections through deliberate voter registration drives. Under this system, citizens interested in voting must take action to register, which entails that interested potential voters can register at any time at designated registration centres. ZEC, however, allocated 72 days for the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) Blitz. The initial schedule that ZEC produced for this exercise, as well as the target, 7 million voters registered indicated an admirable ambition well in line with ZESN’s estimated voter population of 7,224,128.28 The 72-day period could have been adequate on the assumption that everything would go according to plan, people would flock to registration centres, and the exercise would be devoid of equipment malfunction and human errors and inefficiencies. But even if this had been the case, ambition did not factor in contingency, i.e. unique confluences of unanticipated developments in the operational environment that could hamper the attainment of the said ambitious target within the stated period. This turned out to be the case on two fronts. The first being the dramatic political developments of November 12 to 24 2017, and the high court judgment on the participation of Zimbabweans of foreign descent (so called “Aliens"). In addition to contingent factors, the last day of the BVR Blitz, 19 December 2017, saw 97 281 citizens successfully registering signifying an increase from the daily average for the phase which stood at about 78,000. This high turn out on the final day was indicative of a rush which pointed out that there were a proportion of potential voters still willing to register to vote.at the time of designated closure of the process. Also, ZEC had only been able to achieve registration of less than 68% of its targeted 7 million voters with cumulatively registered voters at 4,879,482. On account of the stated contingent factors and the success rate at the end of BVR Blitz phase 4, it is safe to argue that the initial 72-day period that ZEC had earmarked for the BVR Blitz proved inadequate. To its credit, ZEC faced this reality head on and heeded calls from various stakeholders to extend the BVR Blitz process. The extension, which ZEC called a Mop-Up exercise, covered an additional 30-day period from January 10 to February 8, 2017. By 20 January, two weeks into the extension, ZESN noted that turnout was generally high across the country with registration centres such as Harare Town House, Mabvuku-Tafara, and Epworth Local Board recording figures of more than 800 per day, 143 people on 28 ZESN (2017) 2018 Population Projections for Zimbabweans Aged 18+. Harare 29