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Factbox: How Zimbabwe election voting system works

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HARARE | Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:52am EDT

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is holding presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday in which Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will try for the third time to unseat veteran President Robert Mugabe, who is seeking to extend his 33-year grip on power.

Below are five facts about the voting:

* Zimbabwe has 6.4 million registered voters who are expected to cast their ballots at 9,735 polling stations dotted around the southern African country.

* Voters directly elect a president, 210 members of parliament and more than 9,000 councillors. Sixty women will be appointed through proportional representation to the Lower House of Parliament while 60 people will be appointed in the Upper Senate via the same system.

* Voting starts at 0500 GMT (1 a.m. ET) and ends at 1700 GMT. Vote tallying and counting starts immediately after the close of polls and results for council, parliament and president are posted outside each polling station.

* The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will announce winners for parliament in their constituencies, while results for president will be announced at the commission's headquarters in Harare within five days of voting.

* A presidential candidate requires 50 percent plus one vote for an outright win. In the event no candidate gets that, a run-off will be held on September 11 between the top two contestants.

(Compiled by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

 
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