Close to 2,000 people were turned  away from voting in Masvingo province by 11.30am on Monday  as their names were either not on the voters’ roll or they had reported at the wrong polling stations, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision (ZEC) said.

News Day on Tuesday quoted ZEC provincial elections officer Maxwell Ncube as saying out of 113,784 voters who cast their ballots by 11.30 am, 1,725 were turned away as they did not appear on the roll.

Approximately 585,785 voters were registered in Masvingo out of a total of 1.5 million people. ZEC assisted 14,675 voters with more men turning out to vote than women.

In Masvingo Central, Build Zimbabwe Alliance polling agents were denied access to all polling stations. The party’s candidate, Ranganai Pazorora, who is also its secretary-general, made frantic efforts to sort the issue out at the district command centre.

In Matabeleland North and South provinces, thousands of voters had cast their vote in various constituencies but turnout was low in most rural constituencies.