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Register to Vote campaign registers more success
Youth Forum
May 18, 2011

The 'Youth Go Register To Vote' campaign, which seeks to help one million young people to register as voters before the next elections, registered significant progress over the past two days, 16-17 May 2011, as a number of the formed Voters Clubs managed to register their members as voters with the help from Youth Forum officers in different districts of the country.

Information reaching the Youth Forum Information Department is that only a few of the clubs' members controversially failed to register as they had already been informed of the requirements for registration by the various districts' Youth Forum officers. The biggest set-back was in Beitbridge where exactly half (9) of the members of a Voter's Club from Mathoke village where turned away because their proof of residence was deemed not 'authentic'. In Chimanimani, only one Brian Neshiri (24) failed to register as he failed to acquire the required but nonsensical proof of residence. From the other districts that were involved, five were reportedly denied the required letters by their chiefs or headmen.

The Youth Forum embarked on the much-acclaimed 'Youth Go Register to Vote' Campaign after research showed that only a few youths (less than 15%) were constructively involved in the voting process in a country where more than 60% of the citizens are below the age of 35. The target of the campaign is to register at least 1,000,000 (one million) new young voters before the next election is conducted and since the inception of the campaign in November 2011, the organization has managed to assists many youths register as voters and the belief now is that the 1 million target will be surpassed.

The organization provides the Voter's Clubs with logistical support and information on the registration process. Many analysts have hailed the campaign saying the positive involvement of young people in elections will lead to a more democratic Zimbabwe and a reduction in political violence, something that had become a preserve for the youths who would not be registered to vote. It is also envisaged that the positive involvement of young people in elections will lead to an election that cannot be disputed as young people are constitute more than half the population and are known to vote for democracy.

The campaign has also heard its challenges with suspected state agents storming the Youth Forum offices in February 2011 after the launching of the SMS platform that encourages and informs more than 30,000 young people on the voting process. The attackers wanted to know why the organization embarked on the campaign when the president hadn't announced the election dates, they also destroyed valuable property belonging to the organization and threatened the organization's secretariat with unspecified action if the campaign continued. The campaign ignored such threats and has continued to reach new heights.

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