HARARE, July 6, (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said on Thursday it is anticipating to register about 7 million voters as the country prepares for national polls next year, state news agency New Ziana reported.
The country has a population of 13 million people, of which around 6 million are eligible voters. Less than 3 million people voted in the previous 2013 election.
Zimbabwe is for the first time using the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system, and will establish a new voters' roll.
The system entails use of unique individual identification techniques such as fingerprints and irises to identify voters. Previously, voters just used their national identification documents to register.
ZEC chairperson Rita Makarau said the electoral body had already secured 7.59 million dollars for procurement of 3,000 BVR kits from equipment provider, Laxton Group of China.
It is expected that it will take at least four minutes to register one person, Makarau said, adding that the entire voter registration would take two and half months.
Makarau said Zimbabweans in the diaspora would not be allowed to vote outside the country, and that they were free to come back home and register to vote in next year's polls.
"The reason is not because we do not want to, but the law ... does not give us the power to do so," she said.
There has been growing calls from the opposition for government to allow Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote, but government insists they have to come back and vote in the country.
It is believed that more than 3 million Zimbabweans are living outside the country particularly in Britain, the United States, Australia and South Africa.
