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2008 polls: Voter registration begins
The Herald (Zimbabwe)
June 15, 2007

PREPARATIONS for next year's joint presidential and parliamentary elections are gathering momentum with mobile registration of eligible new voters, including those who have changed constituencies since the last poll, and inspection of the voters' roll beginning on Monday next week.

The national exercise is expected to run until August 18, starting from 7am to 5pm in both rural and urban areas.

Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede told a Press conference in Harare yesterday that all persons aged 18 and above or those who have moved to other constituencies would be able to register as voters in their respective areas.

Mr Mudede said details of the exercise would be published soon in the media and could also be accessed at the relevant district registration offices.

"We are ready to conduct our countrywide mobile registration, which we conduct every year.

"We will commence on June 18 until mid-August," he said.

He said officers would be trained on Saturday and deployment would commence on Sunday.

"The officers would be issuing birth certificates, identity documents as well as voter registration, inspection of the voters' roll, citizenship registration and restoration for those who lost it by default," he said.

Every district, he said, would have at least three teams deployed to ensure accessibility by all.

Those intending to register as voters are advised to take to the registration centres either a national registration card or a legible national registration waiting pass with a picture of the holder on it or a valid Zimbabwe passport.

Mr Mudede said prospective voters are also expected to provide documentary evidence such as a birth certificate if they lost their passports or national identification cards.

Those without birth certificates should bring two witnesses so that they can be issued with identification particulars.

Driver's licences will not be accepted for voter registration.

Those who were made "stateless" by the Citizenship Amendment Act Number 12 of 2003 after they failed to regularise their citizenship status and wishing to restore it, are required to bring their original birth certificates, original identity cards or a passport and, if married, their original marriage certificates.

"The requirements would be followed and we appeal to the public to bring the relevant documents to our centres," he said.

He urged voters to visit inspection centres to verify if their personal details were recorded correctly and cause corrections to be made where necessary.

Mr Mudede also said metal identification cards were still valid and the public should not congest centres to acquire the new polythene identification cards.

The RG's Office recently received US$7 million from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to enable it to clear a backlog of 300 000 passports as well as issue documents.

Mr Mudede recently told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs that his department required funds for the issuance of temporary identification cards under the mobile registration exercise.

He said his department had to work flat out because time was running out.

Presidential and parliamentary elections would be held concurrently with local government polls preceding them

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