Zanu-PF voter registration campaign goes gear up

ZANU-PF has called on its members to register to vote in next year’s harmonised elections following the official launch of the Biometric Voter Registration exercise by President Mugabe on Thursday.

President Mugabe launched the exercise at State House and became the first person to be registered under the new system that will be used to create a new voters’ roll.

ZANU-PF Secretary for Administration Cde Ignatius Chombo said the revolutionary party had already started mobilising its members to register.

“We have already started mobilising our supporters to register to vote and now that the registration exercise has started we call on all ZANU-PF members to come out in their numbers to register and vote.

“We expect a resounding victory in next year’s elections as ZANU-PF is the only party that has aspirations of people at heart,” Cde Chombo said.

On Thursday, the ZANU-PF Youth League threw its weight behind the revolutionary party’s election plan saying it was targeting to contribute over 60 percent of the five million supporters the party intends to register for next year’s harmonised elections.

The ZANU-PF commissariat department has developed an election plan ahead of the polls.

The strategy has been approved by the Politburo.

Speaking during a ZANU-PF Youth League national executive meeting in Harare, the wing’s secretary Cde Kudzanayi Chipanga said the youths would be pivotal in handing the revolutionary party another crushing victory.

“We are alive to the fact that the party is targeting five million votes come 2018 and we need that to cascade to all our party structures,” he said.

“As youths, we constitute about 60 percent of the national population and there is need for us to also constitute more than 60 percent of the anticipated five million votes. There is no rest. We will only rest the day President Mugabe will be sworn-in.”

Cde Chipanga said to achieve this, the Youth League was taking stock of its structures.

“We need to know how many members we have as the Youth League, those registered and not registered,” he said.

“We also need to know what the problem is with those not registered. This will assist us in ensuring that everyone above 18 years gets registered.”

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) seeks to register about seven million people using the biometric voter registration (BVR) system.

The registration exercise started on Thursday.

Cde Chipanga revealed that the 2018 21st February Movement celebrations will be held in Manicaland.

He said preparations were underway for the event.

“We are happy that 21st February has been declared a public holiday. We are thankful to President Mugabe and his Cabinet,” he said,

“It means finally as young people we have been recognised by Government. We are now five months away from February next year and we have to start our preparations well in time. Today we are officially launching preparations for the event, which are going to be held in Nyanga, Manicaland.”

He added: “This must be the mother of all celebrations because of the achievement we have registered. We have to reciprocate and attend the celebrations in masses. Preparatory committees have been activated to ensure a successful event.”

On the ongoing Presidential Youth Interface Rallies, Cde Chipanga said the two outstanding provinces (Harare and Bulawayo) required massive mobilisation.

“They should be a success just like the other eight other provinces,” he said.

“We have not dominated them, but the poor performance being registered by opposition parties shows we are regaining control of the cities. We are sure people want ZANU-PF to represent them in local authorities and Parliament in those cities and this is the opportunity to deliver victory.”

All the interface rallies held in other provinces have been highly subscribed.

ZANU-PF expects to mobilise at least five million people to register to vote and has already embarked on mobilisation programmes across the country.

Apart from President Mugabe, the First Lady, Dr Amai Grace Mugabe, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia and Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko and his wife Laurinda were also registered at the official launch.

The BVR exercise will be rolled out to all of the country’s 63 districts on Monday to mark the beginning of the continuous registration as required by the law.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has so far received 400 kits some of which have been used to train technicians that would be involved in the registration exercise.

ZEC will then conduct a national blitz to register all registered voters once the remaining 2 600 kits are delivered with the registration centres expected to be established in each of the country’s wards.

To register to vote people would be required to produce a valid national identity document and proof of residence.

ZEC has targeted to register seven million people.

The commission will hire at least 8 500 people for the exercise.

Registration of voters for the harmonised elections will close 12 days after nomination day.