THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has said the ongoing delimitation process will be completed by December this year adding that the electoral body will ensure that no one is prejudiced by the outcome.
Zec is in the process of delimitating the 210 constituency National Assembly seats for the forthcoming 2023 polls based on the latest census data.
Due to different rates of population growth, migration and land use changes, the boundaries of constituencies and wards need to be redrawn on a regular basis.
According to Zec, there are more than 5,8 million registered voters in Zimbabwe at the moment drawn from the country’s 10 provinces.
So far, the media, political parties on Zec’s data base, the security sector, people with disabilities, youths and women, civil society organisations, traditional leaders and Government ministries have been engaged as part of the delimitation process.
In an update yesterday Zec chief elections officer, Mr Utoile Silaigwana said in preparation for mapping of electoral boundaries, the Commission is bringing together provincial and district maps with topographical features such as mountains, rivers, roads, communication lines, settlements and different types of land use.
He said from this stage, extracted information will be combined with voter registration statistics of polling stations and physical addresses of voters to assist in drawing the polling areas so that they remain within a stipulated voter population threshold.
After mapping polling areas, fieldwork will be carried out to verify polling area boundaries in what is referred to as ground trothing.
Polling areas are then combined to form wards while several wards are combined to form constituencies.
The average voter population of each constituency is obtained by dividing the delimitation voters’ roll population by 210 constituencies with an allowable upper and lower limit of 20 percent.
Using this formula, Matabeleland South province is likely to lose a constituency although Zec is yet to confirm that development.
“The Commission expects to conclude the exercise by December this year. In terms of Section 161(2), delimitation must be completed six months before the conduct of any general election for it to be applicable to that election. Failure to adhere to this provision means the results of the delimitation exercise will not apply for the next general election, as the Commission will be compelled by the law to revert to boundaries of the 2007/2008 delimitation,” he said.
“The Commission’s provincial and district offices are currently conducting the geo-referencing exercise, which is expected to be complete within the next few days. After geo-referencing, physical features that guide delimitation are extracted from the maps using computer-based software through a process called digitising.”
Comm Silaigwana assured the electorate that no one will be prejudiced by the process.
“The Commission would like to assure the electorate that no one will be prejudiced by the delimitation outcome. The delimitation results will be an outcome based on the Commission’s adherence to the country’s legal provisions and fair practice. At all stages of the process, voter education and stakeholder engagements will be conducted to bring all interested parties on board. The Commission is appealing to all stakeholders to co-operate with its officers during this process,” he added. – The Chronicle
