Government’s commitment to ensuring free and fair elections has been questioned. This is after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was allocated a paltry $9, 8 million compared to the $79 million required. The $79 million includes $50 million for voter registration and education. The other $29 million is to trial the biometric system.
Elections Resource Centre (ERC) programmes coordinator Jack Zaba said
When a government gives far short than what an electoral commission should get, it shows that they are already taking ZEC for granted.
It means that the electoral commission will fail to deliver in a lot of issues pertaining to elections such as voter education, voter registration — and ultimately it means that Zimbabweans must expect a failed 2018 election.
…Zimbabweans must not allow a situation where we have poorly run elections because government has not provided enough resources. 2017 is a very important year before the 2018 elections because we expect the voter registration process to begin, and government should put more resources towards that.
MOre: The Standard