3.3.
Voter Registration and inspection of the voters’ roll
Effective voter registration is an important means of ensuring that the right to vote is
protected. Voter registration is one of the means of promoting inclusive voting processes,
while at the same time safeguarding against ineligible people. Section 155 (2) (a) provides
for the government to take all measures and ensure that all eligible citizens, that is to say
the citizens qualified under the Fourth Schedule, are registered as voters.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) conducted voter registration and inspection of
the voter’s roll. At the end of the exercise 18,678 had registered. As has become the norm
ZEC created a supplementary voters’ roll to accommodate that category of voters whose
names were contained in the 2013 voters roll but were unable to register during the 2016
exercise. The supplementary voters’ roll contained 25,041. ZESN continues to urge the ZEC
to ensure that only one accurate and complete voters’ roll is compiled and used in byelection and general elections.
Chiwundura Voters Rolls
main voters roll
43%
supplimentary
voters roll
57%
Figure 1: Comparison of Chiwundura Voters rolls
A cursory glance of the two rolls that were used by ZEC during the by-election reveals that a
close to half of those who were eligible to cast their vote in the by-election were drawn from
the supplementary voters’ roll. This demonstrates the need for enhanced voter education to
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