HARARE, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday proclaimed four months of voter registration for the 2018 general elections starting on September 14, state-run news agency New Ziana reported Friday.
In a proclamation published in the Government Gazette, Mugabe said voter registration would close on January 15, 2018.
Publication of the much-anticipated dates follows adoption of the Biometric Voter Registration system (BVR) by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
The BVR system will be used for the first time in Zimbabwe's elections due in 2018.
ZEC has said all voters in previous elections as well as new voters will be required to go through the registration process as part of the process expected to come up with a clean voters roll.
ZEC has already published requirements for the voter registration process and early this week launched a training program on the use of the BVR kits by stakeholders who will be involved in the voter registration process.
Mugabe, 93, will seek re-election in next year's polls and will likely square off against his long time rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change party.
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since it attained independence from Britain in 1980.
