Electoral watchdog the Electoral Resource Centre (ERC) has revealed that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) confirmed that the voters’ roll which was given to stakeholders to analyse is different from the one which will be used on July 30. In a report in which the ERC argues that it is fatal to go for elections without verified voters’ roll which has been corrected on anomalies, ERC says
It is acknowledged that the voters’ roll shared by ZEC for analysis was not the final roll which will be used on polling day. This was confirmed by ZEC and the ERC takes comfort in the fact that the findings from the analysis conducted so far can be addressed before the finalization and possible publishing of the final voters’ roll.
The ERC further acknowledges that the analysis done so far have received varying interpretations in the media and among election stakeholders. For the avoidance of doubt, the ERC insists that the state of the preliminary voters’ roll is the sole mandate of the ZEC. Any issues found on the document in which ZEC has sole mandate to compile and maintain falls squarely on the doorstep of the Electoral Management Body. It is also the responsibility of ZEC to be fully accountable for any issues noted on a document that it should maintain.
Finally, in the absence of transparent and accountable effort that timely addresses the issues raised in the analysis done by the ERC and others on the “draft” voters’ roll shared by ZEC, it would be fatal to proceed to run an election on the basis of a final voters’ roll devoid of the necessary and verified corrections on issues raised.
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