BULAWAYO – The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Friday witnessed an influx of prospective voters who thronged the poll management authority’s registration centres in Bulawayo to try and beat the process deadline.

The registration process for those wishing to cast their ballots in the August 23 election was set to end this Friday, 2 June, 2023.

“l have been delaying to register to vote but my relatives urged me to make sure I vote; that’s why am here today,” said one female registrant who complained that the process was too slow.

“l have been here since 11am and its now 1pm,” she said.

Another registered voter said he was in the queue to fix some anomalies in the capturing of his details, something he noted when he had used the online option of verifying details.

“My first name and surname were both wrongly spelt. I came here to make sure it gets fixed and l don’t get inconvenienced during the day of voting,” he said.

Others visited the centre to find out why their names had been transferred to other polling stations with others seeking to know why their names were missing when they participated in previous balloting processes.

ZEC Bulawayo provincial elections director Innocent Ncube said while Friday was the official voter registration cut-off date for those wishing to vote this August, the process would still continue to serve those wishing to vote in future polls.

“Today is the last day of registration and also transfers for people who will be voting in 2023.

“However, this does not mean we are no longer registering; we will continue but there won’t be voting in 2023.”

He added, “So far we have seen large numbers of people coming to register and to transfer because they are aware that today is the last day and they should try by all means to make sure they are regularised.

“Those people are coming to confirm if they are still on the voters roll.

“Some say they are not appearing on the online platform 265 yet they registered.

“We have checked their names in the system and they are there with the same polling stations.

“Others say they have been transferred to other polling stations which they do not recognise and when we check we find they are there.

“The majority of the people who have been coming to check have found their names in the system.

“We have also seen a number of political parties saying their people are registered but cannot find them in the voters roll.

“Most of these people, from our enquires, we find these people are not registered.”