THE Registrar Generals’s office said, on Wednesday, it was in the process of updating the country’s voters' roll ahead of a general election expected in the first half of next year.

The exercise, campaigned for by opposition parties, is mainly meant to strike off the names of dead people from the register.

Opposition parties often accused President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party of rigging polls by using the votes of dead people.

“The exercise involves deployment of teams to visit chiefs, headmen, village heads, farms, resettlements and other community leaders to collect information of those who died within their localities,” registrar-general Tobaiwa Mudede said.

“People are always complaining that the voters' roll has names of deceased people; that's why we introduced such an exercise to clean up the voters' roll, but this exercise is not linked with the forthcoming elections which are expected to be held mid next year,” he added.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has warned against what he described as a premature election arguing the country could easily slide back into conflict.

Speaking in an interview during a visit to France Tsvangirai however, insisted his MDC-T party “has always been ready for elections anytime” provided the conditions were “right”.

The MDC-T civil society partners have also warned that conditions were not in place for a “free and fair” ballot whose outcome would not be disputed.

But President Mugabe has brushed off opposition misgivings and said the country should hold elections by June next year, when a two-year coalition deal expires.