Questions on New Voters Roll Ahead of Physical Inspection
The physical inspection of the provisional register of voters is scheduled to take place next week. Ahead of then Open Zambia provides a recap of some of the major problems which civil society and opposition have raised.
Accusations of bias
During the registration process there were allegations regarding deliberate efforts to skew the register to support the PF’s chances of re-election in the 2021 polls. The numbers published in the provisional register have lent considerable weight to these concerns
Comparing the 2016 and 2021 voters register there is a clear trend: the number of voters has been inflated in provinces that previously voted for the PF and reduced in opposition strongholds.
For example, in 2016 Southern Province had 810,077 registered voters. In the provisional register the number has reduced to 778,099 (-31,978). North-Western Province had 400,575 registered voters in 2016, which has been reduced to 384,453 (-16,122). And Western Province had 498,915 voters in 2016 but has recorded 447,143 in the provisional register (-51,772). All three areas are considered traditional opposition strongholds.
Meanwhile, President Lungu’s stronghold of Eastern Province has recorded an unparalleled increase of +120,324 voters having risen from 775,889 to 896,213. Other PF strongholds have also recorded increases with Northern increasing by +43,634, Luapula by +51,763 and Muchinga +52,311.
The figures have opened the door to accusations that the new voters’ roll could be part of a deliberate strategy to rig the elections in favour of the PF.
Two million short
One of the major concerns is that at 7,002,393 the new roll is almost 2 million short of the 9 million targeted during the registration exercise conducted in late 2020. In the past, voter registration exercises have led to large numbers of new voters being add to the voters roll as a result of population growth. Between the 2011 and 2016 elections more than 1.5 million new voters were added to the roll. The addition of just over 300,000 more in 2021 has raised concern that hundreds of thousands of Zambians may find themselves disenfranchised and unable to vote on August 12.
Short process
At the time of the exercise civil society had pleaded with the ECZ to allow more time for citizens to register, particularly in light of the lengthy delays at the beginning of the process and the fact that the entire country had to register anew, with the old register to be completely scrapped. Even with the extension the exercise was concluded in just over a month. Previously drives have taken place over several months and were only aimed at updating the register, not starting from new.
Plagued with problems
Various problems were raised during the registration process, which ran during November and December 2020. Long queues, technical issues and staffing shortages were all reported.
NRC issuance
In many ways the stage was set for a problematic voter registration during the earlier NRC issuance. The Church has been among those to raise concerns along these lines, with the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) stating “We have noted the obvious differences of the numbers between the provinces whose NRC issuance was restricted and those who had a longer period of obtaining their cards as well as those who experienced challenges during the registration of voters.” Attempts at observing the NRC issuance were shut down at the time by Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo.
The question now is what can be done? Various stakeholders have called for an independent audit of the register. Others have proposed integrating the new register with the old or running short drives targeted in regions that have seen a decrease in the number of voters since 2016, despite hundreds of thousands more Zambians becoming eligible to vote in this time. Time is short but then again the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has experience in mobilizing quickly when it has to. If it fails to do so a contested outcome seems likely.
While the physical inspection of the new roll is scheduled for next week, voters can check their details have been captured and recorded correctly electronically up until 7th May, 2021. You can do this by logging in to www.eczovr.org or dialling *214#, which is free on all networks.