Civil Society Organisations praise Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) over Voter Registration Exercise

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JOINT PRESS STATEMENT BY CONSORTIUM OF CSOS ON VOTER REGISTRATION EXERCISE AND ASSOCIATED CHALLENGES HELD AT MIKA HOTEL, JESMONDINE ON FRIDAY, 11TH DECEMBER, 2020
Delivered on behalf of the Consortium by Ronnie Jere

Firstly, as institutions, we have closely monitored the process of registering voters since this process started early last month. This voter registration process begun with its own challenges as regards the distribution of kits in different provinces, districts and provinces. Some of us voiced our concerns over this process but we want to be quick to note that the Commission took some corrective measures by fairly deploying more registrations kits, staff and designating some registration centres to operate 24/7 following those concerns.

We therefore want to applaud the Commission for listening to those concerns, even when they tried to get defensive, and implementing the public assurances they gave on deploying registration officers and kits. Ours was a call for accountability and the need to ensure that electoral process remains free from manipulation by anyone of us – whether staff at ECZ, politicians or any other person.

As institutions who have closely monitored this voter registration process, our preliminary head count shows that the Commission has, as of yesterday, registered about 5.6 million voters. This number is about 1 million short of the 6,698,372 who were registered as voters in 2016. However, the current number of registered voters in this 2020 voter registration process is 2 million more than the voters who took part in the 2016 election.

It has always been the position of civil society organisations and international monitoring institutions who include the European Union, Commonwealth and Carter Center that the 6,698,372 registered voters on the 2016 register was not a true reflection of the actual number of voters. As a matter of fact, the European Union and CSOs recommended the need to overhaul the register before 2021 in order to have a number that would give a clear reflection of voters.

Against this background, as a consortium of civil society organisations, we want to commend the Commission for taking this bold step to ensure Zambia can have a new voter’s register. We also commend the Commission for also registering 5.6 million voters this far. This is in spite of the teething challenges which were experienced in this process.

In our view, we would not need any extension if we, as a country, manage to register at least 75 percent of the 9 million estimated potential voters. In particular, if the Commission can strive to register at least 6,750,000 million voters, the number would be very sufficient. On a weekly basis, the Commission has been registering one million plus voters. This means that we need at least 1 or 2 more weeks to ensure that we capture 75% of the projected 9 million voters. We therefore recommend that the Commission must consider the two-week extension.

We are aware that the Commission is running out of time when it comes to timeline towards nomination and the 2021 General election whose day is fixed. The Commission has to upload all captured data into a single database, clean it up and present it for verification by those who registered before they can print the final register which is needed for purposes of filing in nominations. Looking at this process, the Commission must consider a short timeframe of extension of not more than 14 days.

We now want to address these calls by some of our colleagues in civil society organisations and the UPND leader Mr. Hichilema demanded that Judge Chulu the Chair of the ECZ should resign. We find this call very misplaced because Judge Chulu does not run the day-to-day affairs of the Commission which resulted in some hitches, some of which we ourselves complained about. Judge Chulu presides over policy matters of the Commission.

But we are not surprised with the call by our friends in civil society to have Judge Chulu step down. These calls are not new and emanates from the UPND following its many unsuccessful attempts to win election. But the winner of an election is not decided by Judge Chulu nor can it be decided by the courts. The winners of an election are determined by the voters.

Unfortunately, our friends in civil society want to paint our Commission as nothing better than what was in Malawi. They want to create a narrative which they think some of their funders must adopt. But we want to remind our dear friends who are showing contempt for the Commission and Judge Chulu that this is the same Commission that delivered free and fair elections since Zambia reverted to multi-party democracy in 1991.

It was Judge Chulu and his colleagues at the Commission who were unshaken in delivering a free and fair election in 2011 which ushered in the opposition Patriotic Front. Despite the challenges the Commission faces and the criticism we all can make against the Commission, we still have trust as civil society that the Commission is still capable of delivering free and fair elections. That does not mean the Commission cannot be criticised but the criticism must be based on facts and not the mere dislike of the personality who preside over the Commission.

As a consortium, we commit ourselves to not only criticise the Commission when it goes wrong but also to encourage them to do better and deliver a credible election for Zambia.
God Bless our Country Zambia

Andrew Ntewewe
President
Young African Leaders Initiative
Samuel Banda
President
Advocacy for National Development and Democracy
ANDD President Francis Chipili
Chief Executive Officer
Zambian Institute of Governance and Civil Liberties Platform

David Mvula
Executive Director
Common Ground Network  Ronnie Jere
Vice President
Zambians for Unity, Peace and Development (ZUPED) 

Shadreck Mumba
President
University of Zambia Students Union

Steven Kanyakula
Acting President
Zambia National Students Union