Give voting rights to Diaspora, Mwonzora

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MDC-T’s interim Secretary-General, senator Douglas Mwonzora has said Zimbabwe should give its citizens in the diaspora the right to vote.

He made the remarks in Senate this Tuesday. Mwonzora said the diaspora community was immensely contributing to Zimbabwe’s economic development hence the need to grant them the right to vote. He said:

In his speech, the President acknowledged the role of the diaspora in Zimbabwe’s economic development. They must be encouraged to do more. However, there cannot be responsibility without rights. Therefore, this country has to allow the diaspora vote.
Other countries like Malawi, Mozambique and Russia allow their nationals stationed in Zimbabwe to vote in their national elections while they are in Zimbabwe. My party – the MDC-T is working on concrete proposals on how to make the diaspora vote safe, fair and credible.

The issue has been a hotly debated one with the ruling ZANU PF’s government saying resources are not enough to facilitate a diaspora vote.

Some political analysts however argue that the ruling party is afraid that the diaspora community, connstited of political and economic refugees, might vote for the opposition since it is believed that the majority of them blames ZANNU PF for the deteriorating state of affairs in the country.

Most of the mass exodus to neighbouring and overseas countries started at the turn of the millennium when the economy started collapsing while political tensions were on the rise.