Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean government is considering constitutional changes that would transfer voter registration responsibilities from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to the Civil Registry Department.
Under the proposed changes, an independent commission will take over delimitation duties from ZEC, as reported by The Sunday Mail.
All voter registration processes will now be managed by the Registrar-General’s (RG) Office, a system previously in place before 2009.
First-time national identity (ID) card applicants will be automatically registered as voters, and deceased individuals will promptly be removed from the voters’ roll upon issuance of a death certificate.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told The Sunday Mail that the proposed amendments stem from recommendations made by Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislators in the Ninth Parliament ahead of 2023 general elections.Latest Tecno Pop 8 – now available in Pindula.
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Their contributions were made during a debate on changes to the Electoral Amendment Act. Said Ziyambi:
Towards the end of the Ninth Parliament, we deliberated on the Electoral Amendment Act and, indeed, both parties agreed that the current structure of voter registration under the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was an anomaly.
This is because these are processes that are required to be done at the RG’s Office, at the Civil Registry Department, under the Ministry of Home Affairs (and Cultural Heritage).
In fact, the opposition, CCC, had brought in an amendment which they thought would be done, but I then indicated to them that it required a constitutional amendment.
This is because the Constitution is the one that conferred that function of voter registration to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
It will be a neater process, because once one turns 18 years, and they go to apply for an ID, they can easily be registered as a voter under the address they would have provided.
When one is deceased, the system will automatically remove them from the voters’ roll.
Ziyambi said that such a system will ensure that Zimbabwe has an authentic voters’ roll, which is “better than the current system where ZEC has to rely on information from the RGs Office”. He said:
During the deliberations, the opposition said this amendment had been done because they wanted to spite the then-RG Tobaiwa Mudede.
So, it was actually called the ‘Tobaiwa Mudede Amendment’, but the consensus is it was wrongly placed.
Ziyambi said consultations were also underway to amend the Constitution to allow for an independent commission to take up the responsibilities of drawing up electoral boundaries.
He said ZEC “will be left with the core function of administering elections, without being involved in the controversies involving the voters’ roll and delimitation”.
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