depending on timing, it may be too late to get a voter’s enlisted back on the voters’ roll as was evidenced in the 2018 harmonised elections. 4.11 Registering of Voters With regards to the registration of voters, the Electoral Act requires the responsible Minister of Justice to obtain the approval of ZEC and consult the former Registrar General of Voters (RGV) before making regulations. The Minister must also get approval from ZEC and consult the former RGV on how to deal with confidential information that the former RGV has, or how to resolve any discrepancies between the records of the former RGV and those of the Commission and mandatory automatic and electronic voter registration. This provision maintains the role of the Minister in the introduction of regulations on voter registration, sharing of information, etc. The Minister and the former RGV should have no role in the management of elections. What would be sensible and in accordance with the law, is to give the law-making powers, in terms of regulations and rules, to ZEC itself as the only constitutionally mandated body to conduct elections. The anomalous nature of this provision, particularly in its reference to an individual rather than the office he occupies, is further highlighted by the fact that the “former RGV” (there is only one) has since been retired from the civil service. 4.12 Election Timetable There is no provision for ZEC to provide an election timetable ahead of any election. The law should provide for the timeline within which ZEC must provide its timetable for an election, with relevant information such as the date, by when the timetable must be gazetted, and the cut-off date by which the voters’ roll must be provided, etc. 4.13 Delimitation The Act also does not elaborate on the delimitation process. There is need to provide clear procedures and timelines to dispute the delimitation process through the Electoral Court. Also, there should be stakeholder consultation on delimitation and the process needs to comply with international standards such as equal voting strength, representativeness, and community of interest. In view of the existing gaps in electoral law, there is need for the ZEC to convene all-inclusive Electoral Reforms working group that could dialogue on the reforms that are required to strengthen the integrity of electoral processes. The working group could include all Chapter 12 institutions, Parliament, political parties, CSOs, and eminent persons. 26 | P a g e