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Voter education begins
The Chronicle
February 04, 2008

http://www.chronicle.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=6794&cat=1

THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has deployed voter educators in the country's provinces to educate residents on the voting requirements and the need to participate in the forthcoming polls.

The voter educators are moving around suburbs and villages encouraging residents to register for voting in the 29 March elections.

Officials from ZEC said the exercise began on Friday and was intensifying in both rural and urban areas.

In Bulawayo and Matabeleland South, voter educators said they were satisfied with the response from residents.

"We have just started the exercise of teaching residents on how to take part in the elections. Basically, we are telling residents about the prerequisites if one wants to be registered as a voter. The voter education programme also includes encouraging residents to go out and cast the ballot come 29 March," said an official.

Unlike previous elections, the forthcoming polls will see voters being issued with four ballot papers with distinct colours when entering the polling booth to vote for the president, members of the House of Assembly, senators and councillors.

The official said residents were also being told to inspect the voters' roll, which is an important exercise in election preparations.

The Registrar General's office has established 5 000 centres in all the wards in the 10 provinces for voters to inspect the voters' roll, On Saturday, villagers in Gwanda rural could be seen trickling to inspection centres to check their names on the voters' roll.

The inspection of the voters' roll was opened on Thursday and closes on 7 February. Even on the first day of the voters' roll inspection, hundreds of people checked their names and registered to vote.

At the weekend, ZEC announced that the Government had secured translucent boxes, inks and all other material to be used in the upcoming March elections.

ZEC will use static and mobile polling stations for certain areas that do not have voting facilities. The elections body expressed confidence that it will be able to hold harmonised elections in one day, despite that they are the first of their nature in Zimbabwe. 

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