Civil Society, Opposition Warn On Ballot Printing

Earlier this month the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) announced that it does not intend to pay for stakeholders to travel to Dubai in order to verify the ballot papers for the 2021 national elections, as was the case in 2016.

Instead political parties and civil society organisations that wish to verify the process will have to foot their own bill, according to Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano.

The ECZ has defended the move on the basis of the difficult fiscal environment. However, the decision has not been well received by several civil society and opposition members. Among those to express concern is the Governance Election Advocacy Research Services Initiative Zambia (GEARS), which has cautioned that the decision is unwise and will likely fuel suspicion.

“Elections are a very delicate thing because that is what brings leaders and you cannot cut funding for people who want to see what is happening in the process. Even as civil societies, it is not every civil society that should go. They choose amongst themselves, the same with political parties,” GEARS Chief Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi stated.

“Democracy is expensive and it is about inclusiveness. ECZ cannot take the printing process in Dubai where they know that many of us will not reach. That is basically banning them,” he continued.

The Executive Director of the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) Doreen Njobvu has also objected to the move stating, “ECZ should have consulted the political parties unlike coming up with the decision abruptly.”

The ballot paper printing was a source of heated dispute during the 2016 polls, following a controversial decision by the ECZ to award the contract for printing the papers to a little-known Dubai-based firm called Al Ghurair.

At a cost of US$3 million some stakeholders also questioned why the printing was not done locally prompting President Lungu to state that in 2021 ballot papers would be printed domestically. However, the recent announcement by the ECZ suggests this will no longer be the case.

Democratic Party President Harry Kalaba has described the ECZ’s announcement as unjustifiable. Commenting on the move Kalaba stated, “We will not allow anybody to hoodwink or bulldoze the process. We are waiting for a stakeholders meeting because ECZ can’t make a unilateral decision; it is something that the stakeholders have to agree to; that this is our election. This is the people of Zambia’s election.”

Kalaba has also cautioned that the “PF wants to stay in power by all costs.”