HARARE – Poll watchdog, Election Resource Centre (ERC) has slammed the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for violating the constitution and causing unnecessary public anxiety through continued refusal to publish the voters’ roll with national elections due in a few months’ time.

Last week, ZEC chairperson Priscilla Chigumba told parliament the poll management authority could not publish the voters’ roll in order to protect voters’ data in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

This follows a High Court ruling which gave ZEC the leeway to keep the public document under wraps saying the controversial body could only publish it once remedies have been put in place to tighten its security.

In a statement Wednesday, ERC argued ZEC’s ostensible reasons for withholding the crucial document from public scrutiny were unconstitutional and detrimental to the credibility of the poll.

“Section 21 (3) of the Electoral Act legally authorises the Commission to, within a reasonable period of time, provide any person who requests it, and who pays the prescribed fee a copy of any voters’ roll either in printed or in electronic form as the person may request.

“Therefore, ZEC is legally obligated by the Electoral Act read in line with the Data Protection Act to avail the voters roll data, especially as it constitutes substantial public interest as the roll is necessary for electoral participation and the realisation of political rights as envisaged by the Constitution.

“The continued denial of the voters’ roll especially, to persons with a legitimate interest in the voters’ roll and free and fair elections, such as political parties, candidates and CSOs under the guise of data protection is unlawful and detrimental to the credibility of the 2023 Harmonised Elections,” ERC said.

The continued refusal of ZEC to release the voters’ roll has become a source of contention ahead of Zimbabwe’s successive elections, with claims this was a rigging ploy to benefit President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF.

A preliminary analysis of the document unearthed thousands of ghost voters and a slew of errors that could disenfranchise a section of the electorate.

Last week, cyber activists Team Pachedu accused ZEC of exclusively leaking the voters’ roll with phone numbers to Zanu PF after some voters received unsolicited campaign messages from Mnangagwa and his party.

Zimbabwe is expected to hold elections between July 26 and August 26 this year.