About 5.3 million Zimbabweans registered to vote in mid-2018

HARARE, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- About 5.3 million Zimbabweans have registered to vote in the upcoming elections scheduled for mid-2018, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Tuesday.

The figures released by the electoral body showed that 5,310,734 people had registered to vote since the exercise began in September last year.

However, the electoral body said the figure was provisional as it has yet to undergo verification and de-duplication.

Zimbabwe started biometric voter registration in September at 63 district centers across the country, followed by a mobile voter registration blitz in October, which ended in December but was extended by another month until Feb. 8.

While mobile voter registration has closed, registration is still continuing at the 63 district centers until a few weeks before the vote.

The Electoral Commission said registration was affected by power shortages and heavy rains that made it difficult for some registrants to go and register.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the presidential candidate for the ruling ZANU-PF in the forthcoming polls, has pledged to hold credible, free and fair elections.

He came to power in November last year after the resignation of former president Robert Mugabe. Enditem