Official campaigning for Zambia’s August 11 presidential, parliamentary and local elections begins Monday, says the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). Electoral commission chairman Justice Esau E. Chulu has launched the inspection of the provisional voter list. During this process, prospective voters are required to verify their information in the provisional voter register before a final list is compiled for the elections. The electoral body says this period is the last chance voters have to ensure their information is accurate on the voters list. All participating political parties registered with the ECZ including the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) and main opposition (UPND) United Party for National Development are to monitor the verification phase.
“We expect that all the registration centers that would be polling stations for this year’s general election have also opened for the inspection of the provisional roll by voters in their respective constituency. This process will go on until the 21st of May, and we are not extending, because at the conclusion of the exercise, we are having an audit undertaken of the voters register before we finally certify it on the 31st of July,” says Priscilla Isaac, director of elections at the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
“Everybody is supposed to inspect and some organizations have asked for accreditation to enable them sit in the registration centers to observe what is going on. So, each and every one who registered as a voter, whether it was last year or during the 2005-2006 exercise, they are all expected to come in and inspect their particulars, to ensure that their individual particulars are correct, and also to make sure that they have not been inadvertently omitted from the voters roll.”
Full Article: Zambia Election Campaign Begins Monday.