Source: Zec takes delivery of 2 600 BVR kits – DailyNews Live
Farayi Machamire 29 September 2017
HARARE – Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) on Wednesday took delivery of
the remaining 2 600 biometric voter registration (BVR) kits.
The BVR kits were undergoing customs clearance by the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority yesterday before being released to the country’s electoral
management body.
This comes after Zec launched the BVR exercise on September 18, four days
after the date proclaimed by President Robert Mugabe.
The launch saw the setting up of 63 registration centres countrywide,
utilising 400 BVR kits received early September.
The latest arrival of 2 600 kits will see Zec opening 10 000 registration
centres countrywide.
Each kit has the capacity to register an average 80 to 100 voters per day.
Zec deputy chairperson Emmanuel Magade confirmed the arrival of the kits
and was optimistic the development will allow Zec to bring biometric
registration to the doorstep of every Zimbabwean.
“Yes, it’s a fact that they are now here and I am not fantasising,” Magade
told the Daily News yesterday.
“I would like to believe that it’s the rest of the outstanding consignment
– 2 600 kits-as a result, we are really on course to launch the blitz in
early October. We will hit the ground running,” he said.
The commission said it will be embarking on widespread voter education
ahead of the blitz BVR exercise.
“Right now, there are other process which are underway that feed into the
bigger picture like training of voter educators and the training of voter
registration officials who will be involved in the blitz,” Magade said.
“Obviously, because the kits have just arrived, we need to attend to
formalities like customs clearance.”
As of September 25, 10 999 citizens had biometrically registered
to vote in next year’s elections with the commission expecting that number
to pick up pace with the arrival of more BVR kits.
“The registrants are now coming in full swing and this is quickening the
process,” Zec said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is now taking an average five minutes to register one person. For
example, Harare district managed to surpass the average figure and
registered 120 and 144 people on Thursday and Friday respectively.
“The kit operators are thus picking up the pace as they become more
familiar with the kits.”
Magade also called for calm, saying Zec was working round the clock to
bring Zimbabwe a free, fair, credible and verifiable election.
“Our desire is to have a process that is transparent and as all-inclusive
as possible and the nation will be advised imminently of any further
developments,” Magade said.
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