The Election Resource Centre (ERC) - a think tank and advocacy institution on democracy and elections is deeply concerned about the reinforcing, by the recent amendment to the Electoral Act and through comments attributed to the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Act, of the use of voter registration slips in the forthcoming by-elections to be held on March 27 2015.
Briefing the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s (ZEC) preparedness to conduct by-elections, the electoral body’s Chairperson Justice Rita Makarau told Legislators that voter registration slips will be used in the upcoming by-elections. According to Justice Makarau, voters whose names do not appear in the Ward voters’ roll will be permitted to cast their vote if the voting slip was issued before the cutoff date of voter registration.
While the use of voter registration slips to vote is now provided for in the Electoral Act, the ERC insists that such use remains ill-advised and easily contributes towards contestation around electoral outcomes. Use of proofs of registration during voting is not necessarily unique to Zimbabwe but such use must often be accompanied by safeguards to eradicate any opportunity for abuse of the same which may give unfair advantage to some election candidates over others. The ERC is disturbed that the endorsement of the use of voter registration slips supports the notion of legislating to address administrative inadequacies. An accurately updated voters’ roll renders the use of registration slips unnecessary.
Moreover, one of the functions of ZEC is to compile voters’ rolls and registers. This provision of Section 239 of the Constitution further notes that ZEC should ensure that elections are conducted efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law. Section 156 (a) of the Constitution notes that whatever voting method is used, it should be simple, accurate, verifiable, secure and transparent. Given the history of abuse of voter registration slips, merely maintaining their use implies that Zimbabwe cannot produce an updated voters’ roll on time before future elections. This position is unacceptable and potentially violates provisions of the Constitution.
However, if voting slips are to be used as proof of registration ZEC should guarantee that these are not prone to abuse, that a public record is kept of all books used to issue them and each slip contains necessary security features.
The ERC therefore calls upon Parliament to review current provisions of the Electoral Act to ensure further consistency with the Constitution bearing in mind the need to strengthen voting methods that are simple, accurate, verifiable, secure and transparent.
The ERC also reminds the ZEC that it is inheriting a voters’ roll that has been contested in the past and every effort should be made to avoid the pitfalls that bedeviled their predecessor. An accurately updated voters’ roll whose access is provided in a timely fashion would go a long way in restoring some credibility in future elections.
