Provisional Voter Register 2 Million Short

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) this week released an update on the provisional register of voters. 

The new voters roll includes 7,002,393 voters, which is almost 2 million short of the 9 million targeted during the exercise.  

According to ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano Lusaka accounts for the highest number of registered voters representing 17.7%, whilst North-Western is the lowest at just 5.5% of the total. More women than men turned out to register, with women representing 53.4% of the national total compared to 46.6% for men. Nshindano also confirmed that around 18,000 names had been deleted from the register, which he said were as a result of duplication. 

Civil society has previously warned that the voter registration exercise appeared lopsided. If that was the case it would undermine the protection of universal suffrage and the right to vote which are provided for in the Constitution. 

In December 2020 the Civil Society Constitution Agenda (CiSCA) aired concerns that the exercise appeared to be skewed to advantage certain regions in the country. Activists, including Chama Fumba, aka Pilato, took the ECZ to court over concerns relating to the process but were unsuccessful in their challenge. 

Opposition leader of the UPND Hakainde Hichilema also took issue with the approach, saying it risked disenfranchising a large number of eligible citizens because Zambians will only be able to vote in the 2021 elections if they re-registered in the short registration drive last year. 

The physical inspection of the register is scheduled to commence on March 29, with the final register of voters expected to be certified on 9th May 2021.  

The full breakdown of the provincial figures from the provisional register are as follows: 

1. Lusaka Province 1,241,992 

2. Copperbelt Province 1,023,223 

3. Eastern Province 896,213 

4. Southern Province 778,099 

5. Central Province 666,640 

6. Northern Province 600,859 

7. Luapula Province 562,230 

8. Western Province 447,143 

9. Muchinga Province 401,542 

10. North Western Province 384,452