Zimbabwe presidential election candidates receive copies of voters roll

HARARE – The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) finally released copies of the voters roll to presidential candidates, ending months of opposition anxiety over access to the crucial poll document.

ZEC is however still to release the document to candidates set to contest the August 23 poll in parliamentary and council elections.

In a tweet on Monday, CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere confirmed party presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa received his copy.

“After months of demanding, litigating, and exerting political pressure, the @CCCZimbabwe has finally obtained a copy of the voters’ roll from @ZECzim.

“We’re yet to receive constituency & ward based voters’ rolls as stipulated by law. We continue to demand these from @ZECzim.”

Mahere said the party has begun the process of analysing the document.

“Our elections directorate & technical experts are now analyzing the roll in light of the massive anomalies that came to light during inspection,” she said.

Independent presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere also confirmed receipt of his copy through his lawyer and chief election adviser Jaqueline Sande.

“I do confirm that an electronic voter’s roll was handed over to me on behalf of President Saviour Kasukuwere by @ZECzim,” she said in a tweet.

The release of the voters roll has been a sticky issue as the country gears for the crunch poll next month.

The opposition, which has filed litigation for the release of the voters’ roll before, has been accusing the ruling Zanu PF government of withholding the roll as part of an alleged elaborate ploy to rig the poll.

It was not immediately clear if the parties have also received electronic copies of the roll.

There were also questions by some opposition sympathisers as to whether candidates have been handed copies of the exact roll that would be used on polling day or they have been decoyed.

The release of the voters roll also follows protests by the opposition party over what it said were anomalies unearthed during the voters’ roll inspection period last month.

Addressing journalists outside ZEC offices some moments after some party officials had visited the poll management authority to register their concerns, Mahere said, “Our key demand from the start as CCC has been for the voters roll to be given to us in an analysable, searchable format, an electronic voter’s roll that’s what the constitution says.”