Currently Zimbabweans lose their rights to vote if they stay outside their constituency for more than two years, and therefore have to travel home to re-register if they want to vote. The estimated three million citizens outside the country obviously represent a formidable voting bloc.
The feeling among Zimbabweans all over the world is that the Diaspora should be allowed to cast their votes in general elections from outside the country. Or at the very least, citizens should be allowed to participate in the public consultations on the new Constitution.
Diaspora organisations such as the Global Zimbabwe Forum and in South Africa, the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, are currently advocating for the regulations to be changed to allow ex-patriates to be able to cast their votes AS CITIZENS, using just their Zimbabwe ID or Passport. Voting stations could be set up in all Zimbabwean embassies or consulates abroad to enable this.
The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum Executive Director Gabriel Shumba recently publicised the resolutions formulated at the end of the one day Diaspora Constitutional Symposium symposium held in Johannesburg on 30 June 2009.
Resolutions included:
- the setting up of a Diaspora representative structure to engage with the Parliamentary Select Committee on the constitution and the Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Eric Matinenga;
- the setting up of a website to put forward ideas regarding expectations of the diaspora;
and emailing submissions to the Parliamentary Select Committee.
The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum plans to hold similar symposiums in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and possibly the United Kingdom.
