The Zimbabwe Electrical Commission(ZEC) has announced that there will be no biometric or any form of electronic voting in next year’s harmonised elections. ZEC revealed that biometric technology will only be used for voter registration and is expected to start in March. Everyone is expected to register or reregister using the biometric system. Anyone who fails to do so will not be eligible to vote as ZEC is compiling a more accurate voters roll.
At least 12 companies have submitted bids to supply the BVR kits, including the infamous Israeli firm Nikuv.
ZEC chairperson Justice Rita Makarau said:
The biometric technology is for voter registration only.It’s not biometric or electronic voting. The technology is going to assist us to compile a bit more accurate voters’ roll. When it comes to voting. we use our usual process like the one we used in the recent Bikita West by-election.
We will invite the last three to bring their kits for demonstration before we settle for the final supplier. We expect to do the demonstrations in early February after which the final supplier would be announced.
More: Herald