Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ZEC has acknowledged the concerns raised by Matebeleland North parliamentarians over the decision made for them to file their nomination papers at Western Commonage court in Bulawayo.
ZEC commissioner Nqobani Moyo addressing Bulawayo journalists said the issue had been taken note of and will not be repeated in the next elections.
¨ZEC had not really considered the factors that were raised by the parliamentarians. Their concerns have been taken note of and in the future efforts will be made to have them filing their paperwok in their provincial capital,¨ said Moyo.
Moyo encouraged the state media to cover all participating political parties partaking in this yearś elections equally.
¨State media is supposed to give equal coverage to all the 23 parties that will be participating to disserminate their manifestos to the public. ZEC applauds the fact that already there is coverage of opposition parties within the state media. May they keep up the good work that they are doing. For people to make informed decisions in voting they need to be adequately informed and aspiring candidates rely on the media to relay information to the people. The media hence needs to be balanced in their reportage,¨ he said.
He explanied that the masses in general are applauding the fact that there is positivity in terms of coverage of the opposition parties which was not very existent in the past.
He encouraged journalists to guard against being biased towards reporting on the ruling party. He said it is important for them to be able to distinguish between political and government functions.
Moyo said in a bid to ensure that there is fair and unbiased reportage ZEC has already put a board in place to ensure that there is equal coverage of all the political parties.
