Voters’ Roll has less than 1percent errors -ZEC
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said less than one percent errors were identified in the country’s voters’ roll during an inspection which came to an end last week.
ZEC conducted polling station-based voter inspection exercises from July 17 to July 26 ahead of ward and constituency delimitation later this year.
The inspection exercise, done physically at verification centres that were set up by ZEC across the country or online, was meant to allow voters to check whether they were appearing on the roll and if their details were captured correctly.
At least 2,9 million from the 5,8 million registered voters inspected the voters’ roll and ZEC said
In an update the electoral body said close to 790 000 registered voters physically visited the inspection centres while 2,1 million checked their registration details online.
ZEC spokesperson commissioner Jasper Mangwana said the voters’ roll inspection figures were very impressive while the low number of errors confirms the credibility of the register.
“Delimitation Voters Roll inspection turnout was 50.03% with 2,904,253 voters out of 5,804,497 inspecting their details during the inspection period. As ZEC we are happy with voter inspection statistics considering that 50,03 percent of people who are registered as voters were able to inspect their registration details and were satisfied with how the commission has captured them,” said Comm Mangwana.
“Also, in a sample this big, if 50 percent were able to check their details, it means one in two registered voters were able to check the voters’ roll. This is very good considering the huge sample size of the population,” said Comm Mangwana.
In preparation for the delimitation exercise and subsequent elections, ZEC conducted a voter registration blitz in February and April this year. The voter registration blitz was part of several pre-election activities that ZEC and other relevant stakeholders have lined up in preparation for the 2023 polls.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (ZimSTAT) has revealed that Zimbabwe’s population has increased by 16.2% and now stands at 15.1 million people from the 13 million people in the last census in 2012.
The 2022 census was the first digital census to be conducted in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) conducted the census from 21 to 30 April this year and was successfully conducted in spite of delays caused by COVID-19 movement restrictions.
These statistics will inform the delimitation process and Matabeleland provinces are set to lose some of its constituencies due to low voter registration figures.