ECZ Delays Voter Registration
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has pushed back the start date for the upcoming voter registration drive from October 28 to November 9. Instead of concluding on November 30 the exercise will now finish on December 12.
According to the ECZ’s Chief Electoral Officer Kryticous Nshindano the Commission has so far recorded 130,000 pre-registrations online. Pre-registration commenced on September 21 and will run until November 2020. The process is intended to speed up the process of voter registration. However, those who pre-register will still need to present themselves at a registration card in the upcoming exercise if they wish to complete the registration and obtain a new voters card. The ECZ has stated that current voters cards will not be valid in the 2021 general elections and it is therefore necessary for every eligible Zambian to re-register.
A number of opposition parties and civil society organisations have repeatedly sounded the alarm over the ECZ’s plans to register the whole country, an estimated nine million voters, in a 30-day period.
Musician Pilato and other citizens have sought a judicial review into the plans, which has since been dismissed by the High Court for bearing similarities to a case brought by the UPND.
“The six million plus voters were registered over a period of years…What makes you think that you will register every qualified Zambian within 30 days? ECZ should guard itself against becoming the enemy institution of our people. They must decide which side of history they want to fall. We have a duty to defend the integrity and dignity of our institutions especially those that define our democracy. We will stand up to ECZ and we will resist every attempt to undermine the power of the vote,” Pilato was quoted as stating.
Fellow activist and Alliance for Community Action (ACA) Executive Director Laura Miti also weighed in on the ECZ's drive to re-register everyone stating, “It really makes no logical, logistical or democratic sense this move and they can’t seem to explain themselves convincingly.”
National Democratic Congress (NDC) president Chishimba Kambwili has stated, “The current register was compiled in 2005, 2011 and 2016 and captured a total of six million voters. How then can they in 2020, when the population has grown, capture the same nine million people in 30 days? Colleagues, electoral process brings problems if elements of arrogance, not listening from stakeholders take root… Let us have elections that are going to stand a test of time, by doing the right thing. What we are asking for is enough time for the Zambians to register as voters. This is not debatable! How can you capture people that were captured in nine months, in one month? This issue must be resolved or else this country will be on fire.”
UPND leader Hichilema has also expressed concern stating, “The number of days allocated for registration of voters; we disagree on that. The law says there should be continuous voter registration.”
He has challenged that the Electoral Process Act does not allow the removal of the existing six million registered voters.
Hichilema raised additional concerns regarding the impact of political violence and the distribution of cash and mealie meal through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), which he claimed was being used “as a department of a political party.”