ZEC B0SS CHIGUMBA GETS $76 BILLION FOR 2023 POLLS

The government has put aside $76 billion for the 2023 harmonised elections, with $53 billion for voting.
Professor Mthuli Ncube, minister of finance and economic development, said voter registration and inspection still need funding.

Constitution requires harmonised elections in 2023. Delimitation, voter registration, and voter role inspection have begun. Prof. Ncube said the 2023 National Budget allocates $12 billion for voter registration, $11 billion for voter inspection, and $53 billion for election conduct.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) head elections officer Utloile Silaigwana couldn’t respond last night since he was still reading the Budget.

Political parties require time to study the Budget statement.

ZEC is finalizing electoral boundaries after the April census.

ZEC will use census results for delimitation.

The Central Registry Department supplied national ID cards, birth and death certificates, and more from April through September to ensure 18-year-olds could register to vote.

The Government has gazetted the Electoral Amendment Bill to relax voter registration rules ahead of next year’s harmonised elections.

The bill will change the main Act to make it Constitutional.

Voters can now register just giving their address without supporting documents.

Some renters who didn’t pay primary rates had trouble collecting proof of residence from landlords who didn’t want to be bothered or wouldn’t accept they had a tenant.

The bill states that a driver’s license cannot be used as identity; voters must present a national ID card or valid passport.

The Central Vehicle Registry issues driver’s licenses, while the Registrar-General and Civil Registry Offices issue other documentation.

The new law specifies when national assembly and local authority candidates can withdraw from an election and incorporates the 30% women’s and youth quotas.

Once the Bill is enacted into law, it will help ensure that only citizens can vote in an election, that proper candidates can contest in an election, and that a candidate can withdraw their candidacy in an election so that ZEC has enough time to change the ballot design and notify the electorate of any changes to the candidature in an election.

President Mnangagwa appealed for a peaceful harmonised election in his State of the Nation Address on Wednesday. Herald