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Some Zimbabwean Voters Find Their Names Missing From Voter Rolls


13 February 2008
Interview With Thomas Gono - Download (Real) audio clip
Interview With Thomas Gono - Listen (Real) audio clip

Voter registration and inspection of voter rolls ended Wednesday amid complaints by voters who had previously registered that they were unable to find their names on the list of those registered, while others said they received no receipt upon registering.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network said it was looking into the charges, adding that has received many complaints that people have not found their names on rolls.

Voters reached in Masvingo and Manicaland provinces said officials of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said that if their names were not listed in their constituencies or if they could not produce voter slips, they would not be allowed to vote in March.

The electoral commission recently completed a massive redistricting exercise in which 90 new elective constituencies were added to the lower house of parliament, bringing the total to 201. However, the delimitation was carried out in relative secrecy, and the final report with its maps has not been made widely available even to lawmakers.

Twenty-seven senate seats have been added for a total of 93 under the terms of a constitutional amendment that was passed with ruling party and opposition support at a time when the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change, the main opposition party, were in crisis resolution talks.

But those talks deadlocked over the issues of the timing of the elections Mr. Mugabe set for March 29 over opposition objections, and demands by both factions of the divided MDC that a new constitution be introduced before the next elections.

Resident Thomas Gono of the Harare district of Kuwadzana told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that he faced a number of difficulties when he tried to verify his registration and found that he had to re-register.

More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...

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