Tynwald North—Here in Tynwald North, which is in the Harare West constituency and falls under Ward 41, residents exercised their voting rights through casting their votes freely. Women came in their numbers and were in queues waiting for their turn to vote. In accordance to Section 67 of the Zimbabwean constitution, which provides for the political rights of citizens to vote in all elections, people fully exercised their right to vote and stand for election for public office. However, the numbers for women’s participation were dismally low.
In my ward, there were only two women who ran for public office: Joannah Mamombe ran for the National Assembly position and Kudzai Kadzome for councillor. Young women as well as older women were given an equal opportunity to vote without discrimination and coercion, making the voting process free and fair.
The provisions of the Electoral act also gave room for electoral observations of elections to be transparent, fair and credible. I saw a lot of women working at the polling station as observers, despite the low numbers of women participating in the actual voting process compared to our male counterparts. There was no violence that I could point out as there was no intimidation or coercion throughout the voting process.