Harare — A TOTAL of 5 934 768 people have registered to vote during this month's joint presidential, parliamentary and local government elections.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson Justice George Chiweshe released these figures during a briefing with observers and other stakeholders on the state of preparedness for the polls in Harare yesterday.

He said 121 233 voters had been registered under the mobile registration exercise while 34 629 voters transferred from different wards between June and August last year.

Justice Chiweshe said the Zimbabwe Republic Police -- the only department that has so far submitted its nominal roll -- has 8 000 officers who have applied for postal balloting.

He said in terms of the provisions of the electoral laws, postal ballot boxes shall be declared empty or sealed at both the ZEC head offices and the 1 958 wards seven days before the poll.

Justice Chiweshe said 8 998 polling stations have been identified, with Midlands Province commanding the highest number with 1 380, followed by Masvingo with 1 210 and Manicaland with 1 138 polling stations.

Mashonaland West Province is fourth with 1 058, followed by Mashonaland East with 1 048 and Mashonaland Central with 819 polling stations.

There are 755 polling stations in Matabeleland North, 722 in Harare, 627 in Matabeleland South and 241 in Bulawayo.

More than 90 000 polling officers have been recruited and each polling station would be manned by a presiding officer and 10 other polling officers.

He dismissed fears over the number of polling stations in Harare and Bulawayo, saying the commission could increase or decrease the numbers depending on the concerns of the stakeholders.

"It must be borne in mind that some of the polling stations are composite polling stations in which there would be four or five polling stations at one school. It is not in anybody's interest that the commission establishes polling stations that are not adequate," he said.

Justice Chiweshe said 1 428 observers had so far been accredited of whom 65 were foreign.

The commission, he said, had completed the printing of presidential ballot papers while the printing of parliamentary and local authority ballot papers would be completed by March 22.

To assist in monitoring the media during the elections, he said, the commission had incorporated the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe and the Media and Information Commission because the two institutions had experience in dealing with the media.

On sentiments by some stakeholders that legally MIC did not exist, Justice Chiweshe said it was his understand-

tion to comment on such statements since the commission did not play a political role.

"The commission is not populist. It will not do things which are not within its mandate. We will not be partisan because the law does not allow us to be partial. We are not going to be swayed by populist views from any quarter. We will do what is within our mandate," Justice Chiweshe said.

Commissioner of Prisons Retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi last month said he would not salute opposition presidential candidates Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai should either of them win the harmonised March 29 elections.

He also said that if the opposition wins the election, he would be the first one to resign from his job and go back to defend his piece of land.

Last week Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri also said the force would not allow British and American puppets to rule Zimbabwe and declared that it would defend the country's independence and sovereignty at all costs.

Justice Chiweshe said he could not comment on the inconsistency of the Electoral Act with regard to the manner in which the winner in the presidential election would be determined.

ZEC Commissioner Bishop Jonathan Siyachitema said he was sure that Zimbabweans were mature people who would accept the results of the elections.

"I pray that our elections will not go the Kenyan way. The composition of the people in Kenya is different from that of Zimbabwe and I am sure the people of Zimbabwe are sufficiently mature to accept the results," he said.

Among those who attended the briefing were local as well as Sadc observers, European Commission and United Nations representatives in Zimbabwe, African diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe and representatives of the contesting political parties.