The Electoral Commission of Zambia – ECZ has warn unscrupulous people that are intentionally taking advantage of the situation of long queues to register more than once, that if found out will be liable for prosecution.
The voter’s registration exercise was launched on the 9 November 2020 and 9 million people are expected to register, but there have been a lot of concerns on ground regarding the time one has to spend on the line before they are finally registered. ECZ has introduced the Biometric Voter Registration System which is capturing biometric data such as finger prints.
Members of the public and officials from both the ruling party and the opposition have been complaining that the voter’s registration officers are a few and also slow thus they don’t believe that the goal set for 9 million people to register within the given time frame will be possible.
However, in a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by Electoral Commission of Zambia Acting Public Relations Manager Sylvia Bwalya said that, the commission has started deploying additional staff and registration kits to all registration centers which have recorded high numbers of people so that the voter’s registration exercise can be expedited efficiently and expeditiously.
Bwalya said that, in order to ensure that those who pre-register online spend less time at the registration centers, the commission will be publishing designated registration centers especially for those who pre-registered online.
She however said that, all registration centers will still be able to cater for those who pre-registered online and those who will be commencing their registration at the physical registration centers.
Furthermore, Bwalya added that, the commission is undertaking the voter’s registration in four phases and that each phase is running for a period of 7 days after which the registration officers move to the next phases.
She however disclosed that, the commission has ensured that there are other open registration centers within the catchment areas and all eligible voters will have access to the registration centers for the entire registration period.
ECZ further stated that, it has come to the attention of the commission that some members of the public are offering to work as volunteers in the registration centers but that the commission would like to appeal to all stakeholders and members of the public to refrain from interfering in electoral operations.
