ABOUT 7 200 people have applied for postal voting ahead of the July 30 elections, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has said.

Applications for postal voting for security officials and others that will be away on national duty on the day of voting closed last Thursday.

In a statement on Tuesday, Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said applications for postal voting were being processed.

“The Commission has received about 7 200 postal vote applications and they are being processed. However, this does not mean that all applications will be considered as some of them may not be on the voters’ roll,” said Justice Chigumba.

In an interview, Zec acting Chief Elections Officer, Mr Utoile Silaigwana, said the majority of the applicants are diplomats who are deployed outside the country.

“We have received 7 200 people who applied, most of them diplomats as well as Zec officials but we are yet to verify some of those who applied,” said Mr Silaigwana.

The country will be holding a ward-based election on July 30.

According to the law, postal voting is only available to individuals who will be outside Zimbabwe on Government business on the polling day and their spouses.

Postal voting is also only open to such people who apply to do so within 14 days after the sitting of the Nomination Court.

The successful applicants will be furnished with the voting material in advance and will be required to send their votes in sealed packets to the Chief Elections Officer at Zec at least 14 days before the actual date of the poll.

The Chief Elections Officer will then distribute the postal votes to their respective constituencies in their sealed envelopes within seven days of the date of the actual poll.

The postal votes are further dispatched to their respective ward centres before the actual poll. They are only opened for counting at the ward centre at the time of counting the votes for the ordinary poll.