Election countdown officially begins

Zimbabwe’s voter registration exercises kicked off today marking the official countdown to the country’s elections which the Constitutional Court said must be held before the end of next month.

The exercise will run for 30 days.

The chair of the Zimbabwe Election Commission Rita Makarau said she needed 44 days to prepare for the elections, which means President Robert Mugabe must announce the election date within the next seven days.

She said voter registration and inspection were going on simultaneously contrary to previous opinions that there would be 30 days for registration followed by another 30 days for inspection which would have meant that it would not be possible to hold the elections before the end of July.

More than 20 political parties have shown an interest to contest the elections.

Five of the major parties argue that it is not practical to hold the elections before 31 July, an argument that has now been quashed by Makarau, the former Judge President of the High Court.

Investors are reported to be waiting to flood into the country once the elections are over and do not care which party wins.

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