{"id":76820,"date":"2023-04-17T12:07:35","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T10:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/erc-criticises-zec-for-refusing-to-release-voters-roll"},"modified":"2023-04-17T14:38:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T12:38:52","slug":"erc-criticises-zec-for-refusing-to-release-voters-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/erc-criticises-zec-for-refusing-to-release-voters-roll","title":{"rendered":"ERC Criticises ZEC For Refusing To Release Voters\u2019 Roll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>The Election Resource Centre (ERC) has accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of violating the Constitution by failing to publish the voters\u2019 roll ostensibly to protect voters\u2019 data in accordance with the Data Protection Act.<\/p>\n

This comes after High Court judge Justice Never Katiyo rejected an application by Harare North MP, Allan Markham, who sought the court to compel ZEC to release the voters\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n

He said the release of the electronic voters\u2019 roll would expose the document to manipulation.<\/p>\n

But in a statement issued on Wednesday, ERC said ZEC\u2019s reasons for withholding the Voters\u2019 Roll were unconstitutional and will affect the credibility of the elections. Reads the statement:<\/p>\n

The ERC notes the statement made by the ZEC Chairperson Honourable Chigumba in Parliament on 5 April 2023.<\/p>\n

The Chairperson is quoted stating that the Electoral Commission is unable to publish the voters\u2019 roll as it has the responsibility to protect the data of voters in accordance with the Data Protection Act.<\/p>\n

While the Data Protection Act is there to provide for data protection with due regard to the Declaration of Rights under the Constitution, the act also addresses the protection of data in terms of public and national interest.<\/p>\n

Section 11 (5) (h) of the Data Protection Act states that the data controller (ZEC in this instance) shall process sensitive data if, \u201cthe processing of data is authorised by a law or any regulation for any other reason constituting substantial public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Section 21 (3) of the Electoral Act legally authorises the Commission to within a reasonable period of time provide any person who requests it, and who pays the prescribed fee a copy of any voters\u2019 roll either in printed or in electronic form as the person may request.<\/p>\n

Therefore, ZEC is legally obligated by the Electoral Act read in line with the Data Protection Act to avail the voters\u2019 roll data, especially as it constitutes substantial public interest as the roll is necessary for electoral participation and the realisation of political rights as envisaged by the Constitution.<\/p>\n

The continued denial of the voters\u2019 roll especially, to persons with a legitimate interest in the voters\u2019 roll and free and fair elections, such as political parties, candidates and CSOs under the guise of data protection is unlawful and detrimental to the credibility of the 2023 Harmonised Elections.<\/p>\n

The ERC repeats its calls, that the voters\u2019 roll should be made public, as the credibility and validity of the delimitation process and the 2023 Harmonised Elections are dependent on it.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Election Resource Centre (ERC) has accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of violating the Constitution by failing to publish the voters\u2019 roll ostensibly to protect voters\u2019 data in accordance with the Data Protection Act. This comes after High Court judge Justice Never Katiyo rejected an application by Harare North MP, Allan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":76819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1493,2189,5651,14213,2097,7361,2492,351,19,4001],"class_list":{"0":"post-76820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-election-resource-centre","12":"tag-electronic-voters-roll","13":"tag-erc","14":"tag-national-voters-roll","15":"tag-voters-roll","16":"tag-zec","17":"tag-zimbabwe","18":"tag-zimbabwe-electoral-commission"},"yoast_head":"\nERC Criticises ZEC For Refusing To Release Voters\u2019 Roll - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Election Resource Centre (ERC) has accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of violating the Constitution by ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/erc-criticises-zec-for-refusing-to-release-voters-roll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ERC Criticises ZEC For Refusing To Release Voters\u2019 Roll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Election Resource Centre (ERC) has accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of violating the Constitution by ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/erc-criticises-zec-for-refusing-to-release-voters-roll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-17T10:07:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-17T12:38:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681717157.21.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"548\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/erc-criticises-zec-for-refusing-to-release-voters-roll\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/erc-criticises-zec-for-refusing-to-release-voters-roll\",\"name\":\"ERC Criticises ZEC For Refusing To Release Voters\u2019 Roll - 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