ZEC to set up 11 000 polling stations

Herald Reporter (21/02/08)

THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will set up 11 000 polling stations countrywide to ensure easy access by voters in the March 29 harmonised presidential, parliamentary and council elections.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the Ministry of Public and Interactive Affairs to discuss the elections in Harare yesterday, Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mr David Mangota allayed fears that voting would have to be extended due to the long queues expected at the polling stations on the day.

The meeting is the first in a series lined up by the Ministry of Public and Interactive Affairs.

To create interaction between the Government and various stakeholders, the ministry will host strategic interviews, cyberspace programmes, media programmes and publications to bring inter-agency convergence on national issues.

"We have advised ZEC to launch an election campaign that would sensitise the electorate on where voting would be conducted, which would be at ward level for the harmonised elections.

"ZEC will also announce through the media areas where the 11 000 polling stations would be set up across the country for the harmonised presidential, Senate, House of Assembly and council elections," Mr Mangota said.

He said ZEC would, starting tomorrow, embark on a massive voter education programme to give adequate information on the location of polling stations.

In the March 2005 parliamentary elections, ZEC established 8 235 polling stations across the country while it had 4 500 stations for the Senate elections held in November of the same year.

Mr Mangota said the current arrangement would do away with the need to extend the voting period.

"We are going to start the elections at 7 o’clock in the morning and close at 7 o’clock in the evening and because of the many polling stations to be created, we are confident that there would be no need for any extension of voting," he said.

Mr Mangota said voters would be given four different ballot papers on which to vote for their presidential, Member of the House of Assembly, Senator and councillor choices.

"Each polling booth would have a different set of ballot papers and voters would get a ballot paper according to the election whether it would be for presidential, Senate, House of Assembly or council," he said.

He added that the use of different ballot papers, in different polling booths, would also minimise the number of spoilt papers when verification and counting of votes begins.

ZEC, Mr Mangota said, would also release through the media the various symbols that would be used by the contesting parties in the elections.

On observers and journalists, Mr Mangota said Government would not block anyone interested in observing and covering the elections as long as they were coming with an open mind.

"Those interested in covering the elections would have to apply while accreditation for foreign observers would be conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, journalists by the Ministry of Information and Publicity and local observers through ZEC.

"We expect the people applying to observe the elections to be non-partisan and before they are allowed into the country, they would go through a vetting exercise," he said.

Mr Mangota added that the observers would not be allowed to influence the outcome of the election although they would be allowed to write their own reports.

He said all ZEC officials, including police officers and those who would be assisting during the polls, would be allowed to vote earlier than the actual polling date.