Story by Fungai Jachi
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says preparations for this year’s general elections are at an advanced stage with the electoral body confident it will run a smooth election.
ZEC held its first meeting with election observers in Harare this Saturday, with the commission’s Deputy Chairperson, Ambassador Rodney Kiwa giving an update on election preparations.
“The commission has commenced the exercise of designing the ballot papers for all contested National Assembly constituencies and local authority wards as well as the Presidential ballot. The drawback however as you may appreciate is the designing of the ballot papers for those constituencies where an appeal has been lodged against the rejection or acceptance of a prospective candidate’s papers. Regarding printing of the ballot papers, the Commission will in due course and in line with the provisions of section 53A of the Electoral Act inform the general public and other stakeholders,” he said.
“The Commission has established 11, 501 polling stations throughout the country. Some of these polling stations are composite hence they may be split to maintain the 1000 voter population threshold. The final list of polling stations will be published in the press 21 days before polling and on election day.”
There are 11 presidential candidates set to contest the 23 August general elections, while 14 political parties have candidates vying for National Assembly seats, 67 independent candidates contesting in the National Assembly elections and 55 women nominated for the National Assembly.
