ECZ Unlikely To Register 9 Million Voters - JCTR

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has issued concerns over the ongoing voter registration exercise, saying that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is unlikely to reach its target of 9 million voters by the 12th December deadline.

The civil society organisation observed that in the past two weeks a measly 1,000,000 Zambians have been registered as voters, meaning that on current projections only 3 million voters will be registered by the end of the exercise.

JCTR blamed the slow pace on a shortage of ECZ registration officers, registration kits constantly breaking down, and poor internet connection in rural areas. 

They highlighted that in Kalumbila, apart from a shortage of staff, delays were caused by machines taking a long time to register fingerprints. People with hard or cracked fingers as a result of manual labour reportedly took over three hours to be verified on the machines. 

Other complaints include the paper used for new voter cards being too flimsy and the size of polling districts being far too large, making it impossible to register everyone in the time allocated.

JCTR have called on the ECZ to immediately deploy more staff and kits and to extend the voter registration period by a minimum of two weeks - something which the government has so far been apprehensive to agree to. 

The organisation concluded that if such action was not taken quickly, “ECZ risks disfranchising the majority of the people that would like to vote in next year’s elections.”