Zimbabwe’s biggest opposition party, MDC Alliance has raised concerns over the limited number of voter registration centers in the country.
This has caused less turnout in registrants, reflecting a lack of prioritization by the Electoral body.
The MDC Alliance states that the country with
a population of over 12 million people
has only 66 registration centers.
According to the statistics low numbers have registered to vote, which is highly attributed to the limited number of centers.
Addressing the media on Wednesday MDC Alliance Secretary for Elections Councilor Ian Makone said the party is greatly concerned by the slow pace at which voting registration is moving owing to the few registration centers.
“We note with serious concern the paltry number of persons registered as voters since 2018, on the admission of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission they registered less than 15 hundred persons between August of 2018 and December 2020.”
“ In our opinion, these low figures are largely attributable to the limited number of registration centers, 66 operational centers cant serve enough registrars, “ he said.
Recent reports stated that less than 30 people in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province have so far come forward to register as voters in the 2023 polls.
Innocent Ncube, ZEC Bulawayo Provincial Elections Officer said that there is one registration centre in the province.
Makone added that ,”the limited number of registration centers entail that prospective registrars will have to struggle scores of kilometers to access these services.”
While calling upon ZEC to resolve the challenge.
The electoral body announced the resuming on voters registration for the beginning of April, following a suspension due to COVID19.
Prior to the 2018 elections citizens experienced shortcomings at the centers while having to wait in long ques.
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