1 zimbabwe election support network [zesn] - Nehanda Radio

Voter Education
• The number of polling stations in urban areas should be increased to allow
for adequate and equitable access to the polls.
• ZEC ensure that all voters registered during the inspection period as well
as during the mobile voter registration exercises are urgently issued with
voter registration certificates so that they are not disenfranchised.
• There should be a complete transfer of the management of the electoral
process including preparing of the voters’ roll to the ZEC. This should not
only be in the law but also in practice.
• The Registrar General and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should
play a more pro-active role to ensure that every eligible voter is registered
instead of making the process slow and frustrating for aspiring voters.
• The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission should ensure that the Registrar
General assigns full-time staff to register all aspiring voters at all his
offices countrywide.
While the Electoral Act obliges ZEC to conduct voter education and also clearly states that the
“the Commission must commence a program of voter education not later than 90 days before
the polling day of an election”, voter education started late with reports of “little voter education”
having been conducted by ZEC by the time of elections. Voter education efforts were also
compromised by resource constraints, inadequate training of voter educators, insufficient or
incorrect information on the electoral process [especially, the delimitation exercise], the manner
in which the harmonized elections would be conducted, the practical implication on the voter of
having four elections in one day, the number of ballot boxes, the number and color coding of
ballot papers, as well as contradictory information on how voters requiring assistance would be
treated. For instance, some cases ZEC brochures reportedly stated that proof of residence
would be required on polling day, in addition to identification documents- misleading
information that caused undue alarm as prospective voters given the challenges experienced in
securing proof of residence. This was against the background that ZESN was refused
permission by ZEC to provide supplementary voter education. To strengthen the voter
registration exercise, it is recommended that:
Delimitation
• In future ZEC avail adequate resources for voter education.
• Adequate monitoring mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that
voter education is conducted in a uniform, professional and non-partisan
manner.
• A comprehensive voter education and information exercise should be
conducted in order to reduce cases of voters going to wrong polling
stations or wards on voting day.
• More space should be given to NGOs to provide gap filling voter
education. This is particularly critically given ZEC’s apparent lack of
continuity to undertake the exercise in all provinces.
While a new delimitation exercise was conducted in advance of the 29 March 2008 Election,
there was insufficient time for people to participate in the process. A preliminary Delimitation
Report was not tabled as envisioned in the law, to provide an opportunity for formal input by the
political parties. The final Delimitation Report was tabled in Parliament very late in the electoral
process. This left little time to educate the public on changes to ward and constituency [House
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