The Zimbabwean opposition faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai has asked the national elections authority to reconsider its refusal to hold a multi-party gathering to discuss issues including the voters roll, registration and new constituency delimitation.
Elections Director Ian Makone of the Tsvangirai faction of the Movement for Democratic Change said formation wants the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to convene the meeting to discuss “practical approaches” to registering voters so as to avoid mistakes made in such an exercise this year and in the 2005 elections.
ZEC Chairman George Chiweshe told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe he held consultations after the first round of mobile registration earlier this year, so he sees no immediate need to meet with stakeholders now, noting that a second round of voter registration by mobile units is currently underway.
But the Zimbabwe Election Support Network said mobile registration faces the same problems that limited registrations in the first round to some 80,000 voters. The group, which is monitoring the registration exercise nationwide, said it will give Chiweshe's commission its findings on Friday, including a statement of its concerns.
The current mobile registration drive is to end on Nov. 15.
Though the commission has said it wants to register as many voters as it can, ZESN Chairman Noel Kututwa said the current registration drive has not been given enough publicity and it is running into the same logistical problems experienced in August.