By Thandiwe Garusa

PRESSURE continues to mount on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission after main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) demanded a fresh for the March 26 by-elections, arguing the heavily disparaged current one is not fit for purpose.

ZEC has been accused of illegally moving 170 000 from their constituencies and wards on the contested voters roll.

Addressing the media Wednesday, CCC deputy secretary for elections Ellen Shiriyedenga said ZEC must avail the real voters roll as soon as possible.

She said ZEC is not forthcoming in addressing queries regarding the voters roll despite the fact that she personally went to ZEC and followed all laid down procedures.

“As a party, we demand a new voters roll, which is accurate based on the voters’ roll that was used in 2018. By its own admission, ZEC has gone out of its way to say the voters roll that we are auditing was not acquired procedurally, it is a fake, leaked document and it is a draft,” Shiriyedenga said.

“For the benefit of doubt, ZEC must give us the correct version of the voters roll, which does not have all these discrepancies, which reflects the actual situation on the ground. Let us say for argument’s sake, the audited voters roll is inaccurate as claimed by ZEC, it should then avail the correct version of the voters roll, which should be used on the March 26 by-election,” she said.

ZEC has been denying the messy voters roll saying it has been tampered with and has suspended several officials who are being accused of leaking the document.