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Electoral Amendment Bill, 2003
March 19, 2004

See the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] (Act 25/2004)

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ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL, 2003 (H.B. 9, 2003 (sic) )

MEMORANDUM

This Bill will amend the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:01] ("the principal Act") in certain respects in the manner described under the individual clauses below:

Clause 1
This clause sets out the Bill’s short title.

Clause 2
This clause inserts some additional definitions in section 3 of the principal Act.

Clause 3
This clause will allow the Minister to assign to the Commission any person in the employment of the State to perform secretarial and administrative functions for the Commission.

Clause 4
This clause will permit any member of the public to inspect the voters roll and make any written notes of anything therein contained.

Clause 5
This clause seeks to insert a new Part in the principal Act which deals with voter education. The clause will empower the Electoral Supervisory Commission with the function of supervising voter education. It further sets out who shall conduct voter education.

Clauses 6 and 7
These clauses seek to amend sections 20 and 21 of the principal Act by empowering the Registrar-General or any constituency registrar to demand from any voter who is registered on the voters roll or from any claimant for registration as a voter proof of identity or residence as defined in the new subsection (a1) of section 20.

Clause 8
This clause will permit the Registrar-General and constituency registrars to effect transfers of applicants seeking transfer to a constituency in which they are either resident or non-resident upon satisfying the Registrar-General or the constituency registrars concerned that they are entitled to such transfer.

Clause 9
This clause will permit the Registrar-General to strike a voter's name off the voters roll or reject his claim for registration without prior notice to him if such notice, stating that he has ceased to be a citizen of Zimbabwe in terms of Schedule 3 of the Constitution, has already been published in the Gazette or in any newspaper circulating in the area concerned.

Clause 10
This clause seeks to simplify the procedure with respect to objections by voters to the retention of any name on the voters roll. If the constituency registrar upholds the objection, the constituency registrar is not (subject to giving notice to any third party affected by the objection) required to set the objection down for hearing before a magistrate.

Clause 11
This clause seeks to insert an additional section in the principal Act to empower the Registrar-General to correct errors or change names or addresses of voters where this becomes necessary to do so, whether on the application of a voter or not, but subject to notice of the fact being published in the Gazette by the Registrar-General. Constituency registrars will be given similar powers.

Clause 12
This clause seeks to create an additional offence of forgery of signatures of nominators and disqualifies a candidate who commits that offence from contesting in that election.

Clause 13
This clause will enable the Registrar-General to approve the type or size of seals used by candidates and election agents to seal ballot boxes, and will additionally allow candidates and election agents to affix their signatures or thumb-prints upon the presiding officer's ballot-box seal.

Clause 14 and 15
Clause 14 will restrict the classes of persons who may apply for postal ballots to those away on duty in the military or diplomatic service of the State or on duty as electoral officers, and to the spouses of those persons. Clause 14 and 15 also modify the procedure concerning the application for and issue of postal ballot papers.

Clauses 16 and 17
These clauses seek to make minor amendments to the qualifications and disqualifications of a candidate for election as a councillor and mayor respectively.

Clause 18
This clause seeks to insert an additional subsection to section 103M of the principal Act which will provide that a clearance certificate obtained from the Zimbabwe Republic Police or the relevant council should be lodged together with the nomination papers of a candidate. The clause further creates the offence of forgery and disqualifies a candidate who commits that offence from contesting in that election.

Clause 19
This clause seeks to make provision for expenses of elections to be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund where the council concerned fails to meet such expenses and for the recovery of such moneys from the council concerned.

Clause 20
This clause seeks to create the new offence of defacing property for political purposes.

Clause 21 and Schedule to Bill
Certain minor amendments to the principal Act are effected in a Schedule to this Bill.

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