The Zimbabwe Election Commission says it will this year avail copies of the voters’ roll, compiled through the Biometric Voter Registration exercise, to political parties and individuals participating in the forthcoming general elections.
But ZEC says it does not yet have facilities for people to verify their names in the new voters’ roll as Zimbabwe does not have the capacity to undertake such a huge program.
“Parties are going to buy copies of the voters’ roll from the Commission. I think they are going to be very cheap. I think it must be $10 for a ward voters’ roll, $100 for a constituency voters’ roll or something like that. You can get a soft copy and you can also get a hard copy, that is contesting political parties … Even if you are an independent you will also be allowed to get copies of the voters’ roll.”
Moyo says this is designed to “ensure that we conduct a transparent, free, fair and credible election.”
Some political parties have failed over the years to access the voters’ roll, which at one stage was believed to contain names of thousands of deceased Zimbabweans.
Zanu PF opponents claimed that the ruling party was using it to allegedly rig elections, a claim that was once dismissed by former president Robert Mugabe as wishful thinking.
Zimbabweans are expected, starting May 19th, to inspect the voters’ roll to ensure that their names are properly captured in the register.
According to Moyo, people are expected to physically inspect the voters’ roll as they don’t have the capacity to upload it online for easy accessibility, especially by Zimbabweans living in the diaspora.