Youths turnout to register to vote in numbers…

…as they manage to convince their friends to do the same

Young people are often accused of being political apathetic based on the fact that a limited number of youths have voted in the past elections.Working with the youths for years has helped CYDT understand that this mythdoes not explain the actual situation on the ground. 

CYDT learnt that young people lack knowledge and information on electoral processes which was the reason they did not find the need to participate in electoral processes. This was the reason that informedCYDTto partner MYDI to conduct activities like the Civic and Voter Education programs that were meant to capacitate young people with  information on electoral processes.

Through these activities, young people got to understand the importance of registering to vote and the importance of voting on election day.

Throughout the voter registration campaign for the 2023 elections, the Civic and Voter Education activities proved fruitful as they managed to convince young people to register to vote.

Not only did these activities motivate youths to register to vote but they also influenced them to assist their friends and families to register to vote during the various phases of the Mobile Voter Registration Blitz conducted by ZEC.

Young people said they appreciated the activities conducted by CYDT and MYDI as they had opened their eyes on what was important to change their lives for the better.

When voter registration for the 2023 elections closed on the 2^nd of June this year, young people had managed to assist hundreds of their peers to register to vote.

Gwanda youths managed to convince local business people to use their trucks to ferry mobilised peers to the registration centres. While in some instances, young people used their own funds to help transport their friends to nearby ZEC provincial/district offices.

“we could have assisted a good number of local youths but some of them gave up after being frustrated by the administrative challenges faced by ZEC during the voter registration blitz,” a Gwanda youth told CYDT, just after the President of Zimbabwe proclaimed the 23^rd of August as the official election day which meant that voter registration for the 2023 elections was going to be closed on the 2^nd of June 2023.

Other youths failed to register to vote after they were told their IDs had blurry and unrecognizable features. However, this did not stop young people from mobilising more youths to register to vote as statistics show that youth voter registration improved in Matabeleland South compared to the previous elections.

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