Vote denied to Zimbabwe's diaspora

Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be barred from voting in the countries where they live in the election due in 2018, the electoral commission has said. 

This is despite a 2013 constitutional amendment which gives the disapora population the vote. 

The electoral commission said people living abroad would have to come home to register, and then again to vote. 

This is because new laws have not been put in place since the constitution was amended. The current law limits postal votes to those in government service abroad. 

The commission's decision is a huge blow to the millions of Zimbabweans in the diaspora who have waged a long campaign to get the vote.

Opposition parties have condemned the decision as a deliberate attempt by the state to disenfranchise millions of Zimbabweans.  

President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980, has said he will stand for re-election. 

Up to four million Zimbabweans have left the country as a result of the political and economic crisis that has gripped Zimbabwe for more than a decade. 

Some have been given asylum in other states while others are living illegally.  

BBC News reported