Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has announced a month-long extension to its voter registration exercise, as the country inches towards a general election in August.

Close to five million of the anticipated seven million people have registered so far under a new biometric system.

The country is under pressure to deliver free and fair elections following the forced resignation of long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe in November.

The electoral commission says it is targeting “aliens” - hundreds of thousands of citizens who have lived in neighbouring countries for decades but who only recently, through a Constitutional Court ruling, won the right to vote.

Last year, the government announced it would scrap the old electoral roll which the opposition believed had been used to rig previous elections.

All Zimbabweans, including those who have voted before, are required to register afresh under the new biometric system which uses fingerprint and facial recognition.