An analysis of voter registration results

This table shows the number of first time voters who successfully registered per province during the mobile registration exercise between 29 April and 19 May 2013.

PROVINCE                         NO. OF NEW REGISTRANTS

 Bulawayo                                                             5 068

 Matabeleland North                                            13 536

 Matabeleland South                                             9 403

 Midlands                                                             23 404

 Masvingo                                                            20 610

 Manicaland                                                         24 024

 Mashonaland East                                               35 266

 Mashonaland West                                             31 570

 Mashonaland Central                                          29 635

 Harare                                                               11 525

 

Analysis  

The recent statistics on the mobile voter registration exercise carried out in May 2013 indicate that a total of two hundred and four thousand and forty-one (204 041) first time voters managed to register. These statistics however show a bias towards some areas giving the impression that they may have been more vibrant than the others. This is in fact a direct result of the observations made by National Youth Development Trust and other CSOs during the exercise.

 Most constituencies in the Mashonaland provinces had more registration centres than those in the Matabeleland region. Mashonaland Central for instance, which recorded the highest number of new registrants, also had the highest number of registration centres during the exercise. 

Even within the Matabeleland region, the uneven distribution of registration centres could be noted, specifically with a bias towards ZANU PF strongholds. For example both Bubi and UMguza constituencies had 19 centres each and yet Tsholotsho North and South were sharing only 11 Centres and Lupane East and West were sharing only 15 Centres. Therefore, although Matabeleland North as a whole had a total of 89 registration centres, 38 of the centres were concerntrated in two constituencies, Bubi and Umguza, leaving only 51 centres distributed between 12 of the remaining constituencies. 

The net effect of this was that in most rural areas in Matabeleland people still needed to travel a distance of more than 15km to get to the nearest mobile registration centre. Given the fact that Midlands is geographically the largest province and yet it had by far less registration centres than other provinces, it is obvious that a number of people were affected by the distance to the nearest registration centre. This, combined with the poor administration and publicity of the process, meant that more people resident away from the designated centres would remain unaware of the process until it came to an end. 

While the criteria used by the office of the Registrar General to determine the number of registration centres per province remains unclear, an analysis of the distribution shows a bias towards rural areas and ZANU PF strongholds. 

Since independence, the Matabeleland region has always voted for the alternative to ZANU PF and to date the party has a weak presence in the region. Most urban areas are also known to be unfriendly to the party since the emergence of opposition parties. Such an uneven distribution of registration centres could therefore be seen as a way of suppressing the alternative vote by minimising their access to voter registration thereby reducing the chances of other parties winning Zimbabwe’s next general elections. Such a move may also be viewed as an early sign of vote rigging.

Conclusion  

It is evident that the uneven distribution of registration centres had an effect in the number of first time voters who were ultimately registered during the mobile registration exercise. This, coupled with a number of other administrative flaws, left a large number of eligible voters disenfranchised, hence bringing the need for a more improved registration exercise.  

Recommendations  

It is therefore important that as the Zimbabwe electoral commission prepares for the 30 day Mandatory voter registration exercise, they take into account the recommendations made by various civil actors such as the NYDT.

 The first port of call for ZEC must be to take control of the voter registration exercise and not allow the partisan office of the registrar general to take over their mandate, and then exercise it in a professional and non-partisan manner.   Setting up ward based voter registration centres could help make the centres more accessible to the people.   Other administrative issues such as funding, staffing, improved publicity and availing enough information on requirements also need to be taken into account to make the next similar exercise more effective and beneficial to young Zimbabweans.