Zimbabwes discredited electoral system has received a further heavy knock of no confidence after it showed at the weekend that 134 202 people over the age of 90 were on the voters roll last year.As of 2008, the country had 5.9 million voters on the roll but new research by the Research Advocacy Unit (RAU) poses fresh credibility questions about Zimbabwes electoral system.
The report titled 
2013 Vision – Seeing Double and the Dead has amazed observers and reinforced long held suspicions that President Robert Mugabes Zanu(PF) has used underhand tactics to retain power.
Analysts said the figures were baffling considering that the average life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 34 for women and 37 for men and in the light of the fact that the World Health Organisation predicts that only 14.7 % of Zimbabweans live beyond 60.
Some 134 202 people over 90 appear on the roll, with some 30 044 of these with the listed birth date of 1st January 1901, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said in a statement.
Voters exceed registered number
ZESN says this could explain why the percentage poll in some wards during the March 2008 harmonised elections exceeded the number of registered voters.
Another interesting point revealed by the audit is with respect to the number of voters registered in a Ward, compared to the number who voted in the 2008 elections, RAU said. Beitbridge East, for example, had 3 voters registered in Ward 3, but an astonishing 339 people cast their votes in that ward
There were also questions about the massive swing of voter preference after the first round of the presidential elections where Mugabe was beaten into second position by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mugabe won the one man race June 27 run-off with a landslide amid allegations that ballot boxes were stuffed. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has refused to release the detailed results of the run-off that was roundly dismissed as a sham by world leaders.
There are a lot of other curious statistics on the roll including the fact that 676 887 people have been de-registered since 2002. There are 182 564 instances of entries relating to people with the same identification number who appear on the roll twice or more.
The researchers conclude: The current state of the voters rolls indicates that piecemeal repair is neither desirable nor practical. A re-registration process for the entire country before the next general election by an independent electoral specialist such as Waymark, is not only feasible but would be an important step towards ensuring democratic, universally acceptable and procedurally transparent elections in Zimbabwe
afrik.com
Post published in: News