Introduction
At the time of writing this paper, Zimbabwe has entered the 4th stage of its new biometric voter registration (BVR) for the 2018 harmonised elections. The current and ongoing BVR blitz is expected to end on 19 December 2017. However, there is already conversation on the possibility of extending the BVR blitz owing to reportedly low voter registration turnout. Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) is fully behind the idea of extending the blitz to allow potential voters to register to vote. Thus, in light of the low voter turnout recorded to-date 4,173,897 by end of registration of 12 December 2018 according to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) website), ZESN continues to call for concerted efforts and channelling of resources towards ensuring that all eligible voters are registered so that they able to vote come 2018…more

23 March 2018 – Following several requests by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network ZESN and other stakeholders for Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release data, on the numbers of voters registered disaggregated by province and gender, the ZEC published the Biometric Voter Registration BVR data on its website in March 2018. Analysis of the data indicates that registration was generally high across all provinces. The BVR exercise resulted in higher numbers of youth and women registering as voters…read more

The 2013 Constitution provides for the overall framework for the conduct of elections in Zimbabwe, which must be managed by an independent Zimbabwe Election Commission that is subject to the Constitution and the other laws. The Constitution also provides for political rights – the right to vote and the right to be voted into office. Since adoption of the Constitution in 2013, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR, have been calling for alignment of the Electoral Act to the Constitution. In some instances, ZESN and ZLHR have also been calling on the implementation of provisions of the Constitution…more

#WillToReform

1. Government needs to immediately align all electoral laws with the Constitution of Zimbabwe…more

The petitioners beseech the Parliament of Zimbabwe to consider and pass the relevant legislation that give life to tenets of the 2013 Constitution and implore the Executive to uphold the Constitution by ensuring that Zimbabwe’s Electoral Law is reviewed…more

The government is proposing to amend the Constitution and some of the proposed changes affect the conduct of elections. This is ZESN’s position paper concerning the proposed changes. While ZESN acknowledges that the Constitution is not set in stone, it encourages caution and restraint before changing it, particularly so not long after its adoption and before some parts have been implemented. ZESN urges a more consultative, cooperative and consensus-based approach and discourages unilateralism based on numerical superiority in parliament…more

The world over, the outbreak of COVID-19 has had far reaching implications across many facets of life. Many countries have been forced to go on prolonged periods of lockdown interfering with the normal course of events. As a result, electoral processes have been rescheduled or postponed indefinitely in different countries across the globe. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which had indefinitely suspended all electoral activities, has since issued a statement indicating it would resume activities that do not violate lockdown measures using skeletal staff…more