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Zimbabwe's Elections 2013 - Index of Articles
Failed special voters to vote in general elections
Violet
Gonda, SW Radio Africa
July 23, 2013
View this article
on the SW Radio Africa website
Members of the
uniformed forces and election officials who failed to cast their
votes during the special vote will be allowed to vote in polls set
for July 31st, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced Monday.
The security
forces and civil servants were supposed to have voted in advance
of general elections on the 14th and 15th of July.
According to
ZEC, only 29,000 out of the 69,000 police officers who registered
to vote, participated in this early poll that was marred by late
delivery of ballot papers and delays at polling stations.
But Constitutional
lawyer and Education Minister David Coltart said while every citizen
should be allowed to vote, there is a provision in the Electoral
Act that stipulates that if a person has applied for a special
vote they would not be allowed to
vote during the harmonized elections, to prevent double voting.
Coltart said
it’s not up to ZEC to just simply waive that provision. “If
they felt that provision prevents people from exercising their right
to vote then they should have gone to the Constitutional Court.”
The minister
said if the State recognizes that all citizens must be given the
opportunity to vote then Zimbabweans in the Diaspora should also
be allowed to participate in the elections.
“There
are many Zimbabwean citizens in the diaspora, especially in South
Africa – there are hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans in
South Africa. So is ZEC going to ensure that those people can also
exercise their vote?” Coltart asked.
He said there
needs to be consistency in the application of this electoral provision.
The minister said neighboring countries allow their citizens who
are resident in Zimbabwe, to vote in their respective countries
and Zimbabwe should also allow postal votes.
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