Zec tampering with voters roll worrisome

THE Election Resource Centre (ERC) notes with grave concern the alleged tampering of the voters roll availed to stakeholders ahead of the March 26 by-elections.

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 2022 voters rolls, show inconsistencies in Harare East, Kwekwe Central, Mutasa South and Redcliff constituencies, among others.

These 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 inform the voters of the reasons for these movements or changes and if they are necessary or desirable, which has not occurred.

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 they question the credibility of the voters roll.

The commission is on record stating that the automated fingerprint identification system and the deduplication exercises are used to rectify 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, ERC calls on 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.