Zimbabwe voters' roll 'inflated by a million'

Zimbabwe voters' roll 'inflated by a million'

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By Peta Thornycroft

THE voters roll for Zimbabwe's general election which will be held next year in March has been slammed for apparently excluding hundreds of thousands from opposition strongholds and massively boosted numbers in rural areas, traditional support base for the ruling Zanu PF.

Opposition party officials say an analysis of a hard copy of the roll, which was released to them two weeks ago, has shown up a million bogus voters.

This, they allege, is an overstatement of up to 25% above the census of 2002.

Yesterday Movement for Democratic Change president Morgan Tsvangirai described the new voters roll as "scandalous".

Despite the Africa-wide trend of urbanisation, replicated in Zimbabwe's last census in 2002, the new roll shows that all constituencies in large cities and towns lost voters and rural ones gained.

Tsvangirai, acquitted of high treason last week, said: "The voters roll has been manipulated to secure even further reductions in urban seats.

"In the circumstances I demand that there be an immediate independent audit of the voters roll."
In the latest voters roll, 22 689 voters have disappeared in constituencies in Bulawayo, where Movement for Democratic Change support is uniformly stronger than anywhere else in Zimbabwe.

Registrar general Tobias Mudede was not available for comment.

His deputy B Mpala, who would not reveal his first name, said: "We cannot respond until we receive an official complaint."
Daily Telegraph
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