Wina Maintains 30 Days Is Enough To Register 9 Million Voters

Vice President Inonge Wina has reiterated the government’s belief that the the Electoral Commission of Zambia will be able to successfully register up to nine million voters in just thirty days from the 9th November.

Mrs Wina told MPs that they ought not to compare voter registration to the disastrous issuance of National Registration Cards (NRCs) because there will be more access points for registration. 

Mrs Wina’s comments came in response to a supplementary question from Monze Central MP Jack Mwiimbu yesterday. 

Mr Mwiimbu asked the vice president whether the 2016 register would be discarded and if so, why? 

Mrs Wina simply replied that the ECZ had given assurances it would register the required number of voters in the allotted time period.

“The ECZ has promised and assured that they will register between 8-9 million voters in 30 days. Member of this house do not mistake voter registration for NRC mobile registration because ECZ has promised to do the job within the stipulated time frame and let us all support the electoral body where we are not sure we can seek clarity,” she said.

Once this new register is prepared, the 2016 register - which contains some 1.4 million deceased voters - will be discarded, she added. 

Voter registration begins on 9th November and will run until the 12th December. It has already been delayed from a proposed start date of 28th October but not extended.