President Robert Mugabe has set September 14th as the day for kick-starting Zimbabwe’s voter registration in preparation for the 2018 general elections.
In his proclamation 6 of 2017 (Statutory Instrument 109 of 2017) issued in the government gazette on Friday, President Mugabe indicated that the voter registration exercise to be conducted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is expected to end on January 15th, 2018.
Mr. Mugabe used powers vested in him as provided in Section 36A (1) of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) to make the proclamation under the advice of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
ZEC is expected to conduct a new voters’ registration exercise in all wards and constituencies in the country. The forthcoming polls are set to be polling station-based.
The proclamation read in part, “… Under and by virtue of the powers vested in me as president, I do, by this my proclamation … fix Thursday, the 14th September, 2017, as the date upon which the new registration will begin; and fix Monday the 15th of January, 2018, as the latest day upon which claims and applications for registration shall be received in all wards and constituencies.”
ZEC will use the Biometric Voter Registration scheme to register the voters. This is the first time Zimbabwe is using this method of registering voters.