Postal voting to be held according to the Electoral Act
By Harry Taruva and Memory Mudzani
Zimbabwe opposition movement Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on 12 July 2023 seeking clarity over how the poll management authority intended to roll out its postal voting exercise among members of the uniformed forces amid fears of double voting, intimidation and a violation of secrecy of the ballot.
Postal voting is provided for under Section 71 of the Electoral Act, which states that registered voters who on polling day will be unable to vote at their polling stations because they will be on official duty are eligible for postal voting.
Section 72 of the Electoral Act states that, where an election is to be held in a constituency, a person who is registered as a voter on the roll for that constituency shall be entitled to vote by post if on all polling days in the election he or she will be on duty as a member of a disciplined force or as an electoral officer; or if on duty in the service of the Government outside Zimbabwe; or he or she is outside Zimbabwe as the spouse of a person on duty in the service of the Government and also if he/she is so unable to vote at a polling station in the constituency.
Section 73 of the Electoral Act states that applications for postal votes are made to (ZEC) Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s Chief Elections Officer on a prescribed form.
Applications for postal votes must be sent to ZEC no later than two weeks after nomination day according to section 73(2) (c) of the Electoral Act.
Zimfact report noted that the Chief Electoral Officer must send a postal ballot paper for each election plus envelopes marked with the applicant’s name, voter registration number and the polling station on whose roll the applicant is registered if ZEC is satisfied that a person who has applied for a postal vote is entitled to one.
Postal voters vote by filling in their ballot papers in the same way as voters at polling stations that is by putting an X opposite the candidates of their choice and they must then seal the ballot papers into their covering envelopes and have them sent back to ZEC at least 14 days before polling in the election, to give ZEC time to have them distributed to polling stations.
According to the information recorded by Zimfact, a person who attempts to induce any other person to obtain a postal ballot paper with the intention of influencing him or her by bribery or intimidation to record his or her vote in favour of a particular candidate shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level six or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
In addition to punishment for a person who attempts to induce any other person to obtain a postal ballot paper , if he or she is convicted of that offence by the High Court, he or she will be declared by the High Court to be disqualified from voting at any election for a period not exceeding five years.
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