Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson Priscilla Chigumba has dismissed gerrymandering concerns ahead of the delimitation exercise to be done before the 2023 elections.
Gerrymandering is when the ruling political party tries to change the boundaries of constituencies or wards to create a result that helps them or hurts the opposition.
Addressing the media at State House during Thursday’s swearing-in of new ZEC commissioners, Chigumba said:
Delimitation of parliamentary constituencies and wards is determined by the number of registered voters in an area and is conducted just after the population and housing census.
This exercise is transparent. It is a scientific method that uses registered voters and the number of constituencies.
Each constituency and province is supposed to have equal numbers of registered voters.
… if there is anyone alleging that votes can be stolen through this exercise, it is a blatant lie and a lack of knowledge.
Last week ZANU PF Politburo member Ziyambi Ziyambi told a Mashonaland West provincial meeting that the ruling party would lead the delimitation exercise. He was quoted as saying:
We, as the governing party, will lead the delimitation process.
You cannot say that you are ruling and do things that result in you getting out of power. There is no political party that boots itself out of power.
As ZANU PF, we must do things that we are all agreeable to as we come up with electoral boundaries.
We will have another meeting to discuss how the delimitation process is going to be conducted.