STATEMENT: ERC CONCERNED BY VOTERS ROLL ANOMALIES
The Election Resource Centre (ERC) notes with grave concern at the alleged tampering
of the voters’ roll availed to stakeholders ahead of the March 26 by-elections. The ERC
has received numerous complaints from citizens who allegedly had their polling stations
and wards changed arbitrarily without due notice in accordance with section 35(2)
Electoral Act. A closer study of the 2018 and the 2022 voter rolls, show inconsistencies in
Harare East, Kwekwe, Mutasa South and Redcliff Constituencies. amongst others.
WThese ungazetted changes erode citizens and stakeholder confidence in the
electoral process.
Section 35 (2) states that; “a notice of the alteration shall be published in the Gazette
by the Commission or voter registration officer, as the case may be. ZEC must fully
inform the voters of the reasons why these movements or changes are necessary or
desirable,” which has not occurred.
The ERC reiterates that ZEC must maintain the integrity of the voters’ roll, while also
working to ensure that all electoral stakeholders are not intimidated when questioning
the credibility of the voters’ roll. The Commission is on record stating that the Automated
Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and the deduplication exercises are used to
clean errors found on the voters’ roll. Therefore, these exercises should never result in
errors in the voters’ roll availed to stakeholders.
In adherence to the principles of transparency, the ERC calls on the ZEC to avail
evidence and information necessary to restore public confidence in the voters’ roll,
which includes addressing the changes to polling stations without due notification.
ELECTION RESOURCE CENTRE
information@erczim.org Tel: 0242-752774 Toll Free 08080 219
