HARARE, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least half a million people have so far registered to vote in next year's general elections since biometric voter registration (BVR) started a month ago, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said Tuesday.
ZEC chief elections officer Constance Chigwamba was quoted by the state broadcaster ZBC as saying that a total of 485,827 people had been registered to vote in next year's polls.
The figure, however, excludes submissions from 610 out of the 2,591 voter registration centers as at Oct. 15, 2017.
ZEC is targeting to register 7 million voters in the 2018 polls, up from 6.8 million in the 2013 elections.
Chigwamba said the 610 centers could not submit their figures by Oct. 15 due to connectivity and communication challenges.
She said some of the registration officials have to drive long distances to get to places that have networks or fixed mobile phones to convey their statistics.
Voter registration at static district centers began on Sept. 18 while the national mobile blitz commenced on Oct. 10. A total 2, 697 BVR kits have been deployed for the exercise.
Zimbabwe is using BVR technology for the first time. However, political parties have expressed concern at the slow pace of the registration exercise.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 93, will seek re-election in next year's polls after his party endorsed him as its presidential candidate.
