Youths encouraged to vote

http://www.thestandard.co.zw

Sunday, 08 July 2012 11:26

BY OUR STAFF
A campaign to mobilise thousands of youths to register as voters and 
participate in the next elections has been launched.

Its target is to encourage young people to re-assert their strategic 
position as political game changers.

The campaign, dubbed “X1G”, is a non-partisan initiative aimed at educating, 
motivating and encouraging youths to effectively participate in the 
electoral process. It is being coordinated by the Election Resource Centre 
(ERC) in collaboration with a consortium of 10 youth organisations.

ERC director, Tawanda Chimhini, said the campaign was being launched after 
the realisation that the majority of youths in the country had lack of 
interest in the electoral process.

“Less than 34% of the registered voters are youths below 35 years of age, 
yet demographic details shows that they constitute more than 50% of the 
total population,” he said at the launch of the campaign on Friday.

Chimhini said despite numerous challenges they were facing, the youths now 
sought to become registered voters and ultimately the key deciders of any 
prevailing government.
He said youths faced a number of constraints, which included failure to 
acquire the required documentation to be registered as a voter, such as a 
national identity card and proof of residence.

The “X1G” campaign will engage relevant authorities to promote necessary 
reforms towards achieveing a youth-friendly voter registration process.

“The X1G is a platform for collective action towards achieving the goals and 
aspirations of a generation led by democracy activists, who are prepared to 
create a better Zimbabwe,” said one of the campaign organisers.

A 15-track album entitled Brand X — Set Free the Youth Vote, has been 
compiled by various artists, among them Pastor G and Willom Tight, as part 
of the campaign to educate and inspire young people to exercise their right 
to vote without fear of intimidation.