Zimbabwe reduces "overly ambitious" target of voter registration

HARARE, Jan, 9 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's electoral body has revised the number of voters it targets to register for this year's elections from the initial 7 million to 5.5 million.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) acting chairperson Emmanuel Magade told a press conference Tuesday that the initial target of 7 million was "overly ambitious."

"We were overly, extravagantly ambitious. Zimbabwe has a population of 15 million people and out of that 50-55 percent are under the age of 18 and therefore ineligible. We also have a significant number of Zimbabweans in the diaspora," Magade said.

He said the electoral body would be extremely pleased if it manages to register over 5 million voters after 4.9 million voters were registered during the two-month mobile bio-metric voter registration that ended in December last year.

ZEC will run another month-long nationwide registration blitz from Jan. 10 to Feb. 8 to cater for eligible voters who failed to register during the two-month period.

After the end of the mobile registration exercise in February, voter registration will continue at 63 static centers across the country until a few weeks before the election.

"We will be over the moon if we manage to register over 5 million people and we are on our way to meet that target. We are within shouting distance of the target," Magade said.

Zimbabwe's voting population has been around 3.5 million in the previous 2008 and 2013 elections.

ZEC is using the bio-metric voter registration system for the first time and every eligible Zimbabwean must register afresh to participate in the polls set for mid year.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa who replaced former president Robert Mugabe last November will be the ruling ZANU-PF's presidential candidate in the polls. Enditem