HARARE The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said last week it was seeking further reforms to the countrys electoral law to give voting rights to ......prisoners and ill persons.
Encouraged by the January 28 Supreme Court judgement on voting procedures for visually impaired persons, ZESN said it would push for other changes to the Electoral Act to ensure all Zimbabweans have a say in the countrys political future.
The Supreme Court struck down section 60 of the Electoral Act which required polling station officials to assist visually impaired voters to mark their ballot papers.
The court said this was inconsistent with the constitutional right of citizens to vote in secret.
This means the Electoral Act will have to be amended to allow visually impaired voters to vote in secret.
Suggested methods include being assisted by a trusted person of the voter’s own choice, Braille ballot papers or other measures that have been adopted in other countries.
The organisation continues to advocate further reforms on a number of issues, including the extension of the vote to the Zimbabwean Diaspora the infirm and prisoners, ZESN said in a report released last week.
The move would see the more than three million disenfranchised Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora having their voting rights restored to enable them to participate in the countrys socio-political development.
About a quarter of Zimbabwes 12 million people have left the country since 2000 to escape economic hardships and political repression.
President Robert Mugabes government has in previous elections denied the exiles most of who are believed to support the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change the opportunity to vote saying it did not have the resources to enable all Zimbabweans spread across the globe to vote.
Only Zimbabweans posted abroad on government duty have been able to vote by post in previous elections.
Post published in: Politics