Elections Body Publishes List of Zimbabwe’s Polling Stations

A total of 5,571,950 registered voters will cast their votes at 8,212 polling stations when Zimbabweans go to the polls to choose a president and other representatives on 29 March.

Criticized over its lack of preparedness to run a combined presidential, House of Assembly, senatorial and local government elections for the first time, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has finally published a list of polling stations from where registered voters would cast their ballots.

The publication of the list appears to have created a lot of interest among civic society groups who accuse the ZEC of trying to manipulate the election outcome by ensuring there are few polling stations in opposition strongholds such as the capital, Harare.

The list shows that Harare and the second largest city, Bulawayo, have the least number of polling stations.

Despite having the largest number of registered voters, Harare will have 379 stations while Bulawayo will have 207 stations, compared to smaller provinces such as Midlands and Manicaland which will have 1,289 and 1,150 polling stations each, respectively.

There are 766,478 registered voters in Harare compared to 739,510 and 709,664 voters in Midlands and Manicaland provinces, respectively.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a civil society body involved in providing voter education, on Monday called on ZEC to ensure all registered voters had “a reasonable opportunity to do so.”

“It would be unfortunate if the problem of too few polling stations in these provinces in 2002 is repeated,” ZESN board chairperson, Noel Kututwa, said.

Zimbabwe’s last presidential elections were contested after the opposition accused the ruling party, ZANU PF, of rigging by making it difficult for urban voters to cast their ballots.

The opposition draws its largest support in urban centers, while ZANU PF is dominant in rural areas such as Manicaland and Midlands provinces.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher