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Calls for a new voters' roll in Zimbabwe
Zim Online
July 27, 2004

http://www.zimonline.co.za/downloads.asp?ID=100

HARARE ­ Civil society groups and the opposition in Zimbabwe are calling for a fresh voter registration process to create a new and reliable voters' roll, following last week's announcement by government of a reform of electoral laws. .

Reginald Matchaba-Hove, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), said civic society and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) must pressurise President Robert Mugabe to order the preparation of a new voters' register.

Matchaba-Hove said it was impossible, even under new electoral laws, to hold a truly free and fair election next year because of the serious defects in the present voters' register. "Once the independent electoral body is in place, a new voter registration exercise has to start and delimitation of constituencies would follow to avoid allegations of vote rigging."

The Registrar General's Office ­ still in charge of preparing elections - has been registering voters across he country but civic groups and the MDC say the process has deliberately focused on areas where the ruling ZANU PF enjoys more support while excluding opposition areas. The Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, denies the charge.

A new voter registration process would require millions of dollars and may cause the postponement of the general election scheduled for March 2005. Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe (CCZ) chairman Brian Kagoro backed Matchaba-Hove's call for a new voters' roll. The CCZ is a a coalition of churches, labour movement, lawyers, human and civic rights groups and non-governmental-organisations.

Kahoro said a fresh voter registration exercise must also capture the more than three million Zimbabweans living and working abroad. The Registrar General's Office had excluded the Zimbabwean diaspora, seen as pro-opposition, from his registration efforts. Kagoro said the government must also repeal repressive legislation hindering democratic activity in the country.

MDC spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi said that the call for a new register 'is a logical requirement. If we are going to have a free and fair election, it is the whole electoral process which makes it legitimate. We want a clean electoral exercise, from voter registration onwards."

Neither Mudede nor ZANU PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira could be reached for comment.

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