via ZEC urged to cater for blind voters – NewZimbabwe 06/10/2015
THE Election Resource Centre (ERC) has encouraged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to put in place appropriate measures to cater for people living with disabilities at polling stations when voting.
ERC, in its Marondera Central by-election report, said it decided to observe the Marondera Central by-election because, among other issues, ZEC was piloting the implementation of polling station based voting.
The Marondera Central by-election was one of three polls held on the same day last month with the other two in Epworth and Mbire constituencies.
“Voting materials which are friendly to people living with disabilities such as the Braille system should be introduced to ensure the elimination of the need to assist voters,” reads part of the ERC report.
It added: “The government should avail adequate resources to the ZEC as obligated by the Constitution to enable the Commission to perform their functions effectively.”
ERC, a thinktank and advocacy institution on elections and democracy, said ZEC must “open up voter education and reduce restrictions” so as to get help from civil society organisations.
“The ZEC should consult stakeholders and come up with a voter registration model. This model should promote accountability, transparency, accuracy, integrity, credibility and stakeholder participation,” the statement added.
ERC has, for years, advocated a level electoral play-field and insisted it is an important part for free and fair elections after decades of heckling over electoral irregularities in Zimbabwe.
“ZEC and other electoral stakeholders must create an environment that is conducive for the holding of credible elections to allow full participation by the electorate and political parties. This will go a long way in curbing apathy,” the group said.
The lobby group, while acknowledging, that past by-elections were peaceful, urged authorities to enforce the political parties’ code of conduct to reduce incidences of voter intimidation.
“The Marondera Central by-election was conducted in a peaceful manner on election-day, however reports of intimidation in the pre-election period cloud credibility of the whole process,” the ERC said.
The election watchdog said it monitored the by-election keeping an eye on the administrative, environment and legislative frameworks under which the election is conducted.
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