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Senior Reporter
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has so far delivered voting material to polling stations in eight of the 10 provinces as preparations for the harmonised elections on Wednesday enter the final leg, a senior official has said. Speaking at the Sadc Electoral Commissions Forum observers’ seminar held in Harare yesterday, Zec commissioner Sibongile Ndlovu said the distributed voting material included ballot papers and indelible ink.

She said printing of ballot papers for the other two provinces, Harare and Mashonaland West, was expected to be completed by midday yesterday before being distributed.

Mrs Ndlovu said what was not yet available was the voter’s roll which the Register General’s Office had assured would  be available as soon as possible.

“As Zec, we feel we are prepared for the coming elections because as of now about 90 percent of voting material has gone to the provinces and is being distributed,” she said.

“Our expectation is that by the 29th everything will be in place.”
Mrs Ndlovu dispelled arguments from other sectors that Zec was ill-prepared for the elections and said the voting process would be smooth.
“Special voting was not a litmus test for Zec’s preparedness to hold the 2013 harmonised elections because special voting was a new thing to us and the elections are not.

“The challenges we had for the special voting are not the same for the coming elections,” she said.
Mrs Ndlovu urged all the observers not to interrupt the voting process when they notice an anomaly during the voting process, but instead to speak to the presiding officers.