WHEREAS, in terms of section 74 of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13], if the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is satisfied that an applicant for a postal vote is entitled to receive such postal vote, the Chief Elections Officer shall issue a postal ballot paper to the applicant;
 AND WHEREAS section 75(1)(d) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] provides that a person to whom such a postal ballot has been sent shall after attending to the processes specified in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of the said section, dispatch the covering envelope by registered post or by a commercial courier service or diplomatic courier so that it is received by the Chief Elections Officer not later than noon on the fourteenth day before polling day or the first polling day, as the case may be, in the election;
 AND WHEREAS the Chief Elections Officer has received and authorised applications for postal voting;
 AND WHEREAS, given the high number of Court applications and appeals against the decision of the nomination court, the Commission has been unable to print and distribute ballot papers until the finalisation of the said matters;
 AND WHEREAS the Commission is empowered in terms of section 192(4) and (5) of the Electoral Act, in instances it considers necessary or desirable to ensure that any election is properly and efficiently conducted and to deal with any matter or situation connected with, arising out of or resulting from the election, to make statutory instruments altering any period specified in the Act within which anything connected with, arising out of or resulting from any election must be done:
 NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby notified that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, in terms of section 192(4) and (5) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13], has, with the approval of the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, made the following regulations:— 
1. These regulations may be cited as the Electoral (Alteration of Period) Regulations, 2023.