ELECTORAL watchdog, Election Resource Centre (ERC) has given the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) a seven-day ultimatum to furnish it with an electronic copy of the voters roll to be used in the delimitation exercise.
If Zec fails to meet the demand, which it says it will respond to through its lawyers, it faces a possible lawsuit. In July after closure of inspection of the voter’s roll, ERC wrote to Zec requesting a copy of the electronic voters roll.
On October 20, 2022, Zec agreed, but said it can provide the voters roll in hard copy format at a cost of US$187 238.
In a letter addressed to Zec chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana dated November 7, Tarisai Mutangi of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) on behalf of ERC, said since February 2022 they had been seeking to access the national voters roll to be used for the delimitation process.
“We are aware that this costing has its basis in Statutory Instrument 145 of 2022 (Electoral (Voter Registration) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (No1)), which imposes US$1 per page of the roll as the unit price,” Mutangi said.
“Our client is of the view, and we agree, that this cost is shockingly high and clearly is more than the ‘reasonable costs’ of providing the voters roll contrary to section 21 of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13].”
He described the price as bordering on unconstitutionality and having a chilling effect on political rights provided for in section 67 of the Constitution, adding that it made those rights illusory as they were now dependent on material comfort.
“On the contrary, an electronic voters roll costs US$200,” Mutangi said.
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He accused Zec of refusing with the voters’ roll under the guise that it was "enhancing the security of the electronic voters roll”.
“Our respectful view is that, once the voters roll is available in hard copy, so should be the electronic one as both are provided for in a unitary provision, namely section 21(4) of the Electoral Act.”
Mutangi said electoral processes should be transparent, hence the need for Zec to avail the voters roll.
“In the above circumstances, our client is deeply concerned about the escalating cost of political participation in the country. The provision of a hard copy voters roll in these circumstances is inconsistent with these principles, while an electronic copy would address the problem making elections more transparent.”
Mutangi said there was need for dialogue to find solutions to the problem before the 2023 elections.
“We look forward to hearing from you on this matter within seven days of this letter, and your usual co-operation in treating these matters with the urgency they deserve,” he said.
Meanwhile, Project Vote 263 executive director Youngerson Matete has also given a 14-day ultimatum to Zec to avail the electronic voters roll. Contacted for comment, Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana said: “The commission will respond to ERC through their lawyers.”
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