the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission identifies, selects and trains these individuals in order to supplement the staff complement of the ZEC’s officials. Eligibility and voter registration The eligibility requirements for voting in Zimbabwe are that a person must be a citizen of Zimbabwe and at least 18 years of age. The voters roll is polling station specific; in order to register, persons must provide proof of residence. At the point of registration, an eligible voter must have been ordinarily resident in their constituency for a continuous period of 18 months. The Electoral Act prescribes continuous voter registration. Voter registration in Zimbabwe is based on the digital capturing of a voter’s biometric (photo and fingerprints) and biographical data. For the purpose of the 2018 Harmonised Elections, an entirely new voters roll was established. The process for compiling the data for the voters roll occurred in four phases. On 18 September 2017, the ZEC launched the biometric voter registration (BVR) exercise, which lasted 72 days. In total, 3,000 BVR kits were deployed to the 63 district centres. From 10 January to 8 February 2018, the ZEC conducted another BVR exercise to enable the registration of persons who had missed the first phase and for persons with ‘Alien’ citizenship status who had been granted the right to register following a High Court order. Once voting day has been declared, the law indicates that there is a window of 48 hours for any voters to be included on the roll for that election. As registration is continuous, any person registering after this cut-off period can only vote in the next election. This led to some uncertainty about the roll. A provisional register was displayed from 19 to 29 May 2018; during this period, persons who had registered could inspect and verify their details. On 29 May 2018, the new voters roll was gazetted. For the 2018 Harmonised Elections, there was a total of 5,695,706 voters comprising 3,073,190 women and 2,622,516 men. Candidate eligibility, nomination and determination Presidency The election of the President is by direct secret ballot. To qualify as a presidential candidate, one must be: a citizen by birth or descent; at least 40 years old; ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe; and a registered voter. The candidate for President must nominate two persons to stand for election jointly as Vice Presidents. Candidates can contest through a political party or stand as independents. According to the Constitution, for a candidate to be successful they must secure not less than 50 per cent plus one of votes cast in the first round. If no candidate secures the majority, then the two leading candidates will contest in a run-off. 15