The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it will not comment on the request for the electronic voters roll until the courts have made a ruling on the matter.
Following Team Pachedu’s accusations of manipulation, civic society organisations, as well as political parties, have requested access to the computerized voters’ roll.
However, in a Twitter post, the commission said:
The issue concerning availing the electronic voters roll to those who request it is before the courts or sub-judice hence the commission will not comment on that matter until there is a court determination’
The Election Resource Centre (ERC), a local watchdog, is among the organisations that tried in vain to get a copy of the voters’ roll.
ERC said without the voters’ roll, it will be impossible to know if the boundaries created by the delimitation process have followed the law and if indeed votes are equal.
In its defence, ZEC says it is protecting people’s personal information from being abused online.
According to election experts, access to voters’ rolls is important for the holding of credible, free, and fair elections as it enables stakeholders to verify the information.
ZEC demanded US$187 238 from ERC for a hard copy of the voters’ roll.
The commission cited provisions of Statutory Instrument 145 of 2022 Electoral (Voter Registration) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (No.1), which imposes US$1 per page of the roll as the unit price.
However, ZEC spokeswoman commissioner Jasper Mangwana stated that a less expensive electronic format would be accessible “soon,” without providing any precise release dates. The statement was made in November 2022.