Voting areas may need to be redrawn periodically because of population changes or changes to administrative or electoral boundaries. Because of continuous spatial demographic shifts, urban boundaries need to be routinely redrawn. For example, it may be necessary to redraw a voting area if the area's population has grown too large for a single polling site or, alternatively, if the voting area has lost population and it is no longer cost effective to keep the polling site operational. Ten years may be a very long time for the redrawing of boundaries in Zimbabwe given the push and pull factors that cause regular voluntary or involuntary movement of people within and outside the country. Over the years, there has been population migration from rural to urban areas and vice versa due to a number of factors. This has been caused by political and economic factors as people seek greener pastures or flee political violence. Although the 2018 elections are fast approaching, at the moment, and despite the current mapping verification exercise taking place, there is no clarity on the timing of the next delimitation processes. The Constitution only states that delimitation must be carried out once every ten years. There appears to be no obligation for ZEC to take into consideration the last delimitation exercise in computing the ten-year period. The transitional provision in the Constitution does not address the issues of delimitation for the purpose of the first elections. 3. The Two Schools of Thought on the Timing of Delimitation in Zimbabwe The first proposal1 on the next delimitation submits that unless Zimbabwe undertakes a delimitation exercise before the 2018 election, the credibility and legitimacy of that election will be put at risk. It will be critical to ensure that the 2018 elections are held on the basis of a new delimitation exercise. The fact that the last delimitation exercise was conducted in 2008 must be taken as the starting point, in which case 2018 would be the next natural date for the delimitation exercise. Based on this interpretation, the next delimitation process after 2018 would be in 2028 which is also consistent with the elections of that year. There was cause for concern that the electoral boundaries in the 2013 elections were not accurate or representative of the population distribution. That risk will be higher in the 2018 elections, leading to gross distortions in the electoral outcome. Therefore it would be undesirable for Zimbabwe to go into another election without a proper delimitation of electoral boundaries, particularly given 1 http://www.zesn.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DELIMITATION-OF-BOUNDARIES-IN-ZIMBABWE-IN2018.pdf 2|Page