Election Resource Centre (ERC) has acknowledged the judgement by the Administrative Court to uphold the decision by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to award a tender to a New York based company IPSIDY, to supply the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) de-duplication hardware and software.

The de-duplication process includes elimination of duplicated or irrelevant information on the Voter’s roll.

ERC believes that finalization of the tender process paves way for the creations of clear times for the conclusion of the compilation of the Voter’s roll.

In a statement, ERC notes that the recent development provides the Commission with an opportunity to immediately release a comprehensive election operational plan which stakeholders can use to hold the Election Management Body account.

Release of the operational plan will enable stakeholders, particularly political parties and civil society, to develop informed strategies to mobilise citizen participation and election observation and monitoring.

ERC urges ZEC to develop and publicise clear timelines for release of the final Voter’s roll and to timeously release the first draft of the Voter’s roll to allow for inspection, audits and release of credible document ahead of the forthcoming elections administrations.

As the de-duplication process begins, ERC emphasizes the importance of integrity, transparency and accountability, which are internationally recognized principles in election administration.