6. VOTER REGISTRATION o Voter Registration Section 155 (2) (a) of the Constitution provides for government to take all measures to ensure that all eligible citizens, that is to say the citizens qualified under the Fourth Schedule4 of the same document, are registered as voters. ZEC conducted polling station specific voter registration in Nkulumane Constituency from the 9 to 18 November 2015. ZEC deployed a total 120 voter registration officers, 30 static and 60 mobile registration officers to cover at least two polling station areas. The basis for this new form of voter registration is the Electoral Amendment Act, Number 3 of 2013 which, in s 42(1) obliges ZEC to carry out registration on a polling station specific basis. 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 30 registration centres opened in the three wards would also serve as polling stations for the December 19 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 Nkulumane constituency 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 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. Voter registration was therefore conducted in accordance with the Law. o 6.1.1 Voters’ Roll Inspection Inspection of the voters’ roll was set for the 2nd to the 6th of December 2015. ZEC opened 25 static centres for the voters’ roll inspection as opposed to the 30 registration centres. The reason was the closure of the 5‘B’ polling station streams. Voters were able to inspect the voters’ roll in the 25 inspection centres located throughout the constituencies. The exercise experienced very low turnout, 1 630 people inspected the roll compared to 13,331 new registrants expected during the period 9 to 18 November 2015. The process of voter inspection was orderly and well organised. ZESN urges the Government to avail adequate funding to enable ZEC to implement effective voter education programs as this will help 4 The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution contains qualifications and disqualifications for registration as a voter. A person is disqualified on grounds of mental disorder, if they are incapable of managing their own affairs or has been convicted of an electoral offence. 5B Polling station refers to the name assigned the second polling station that would be set up to cater for registered voters who excess of the 1,500 threshold. 12 | P a g e