Maravi

Sata seeks to make ECZ start voter registration

Sata seeks to make ECZ start voter registration
Written by Lambwe Kachali
Friday, January 16, 2009 9:25:43 PM

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata has said he has instructed his lawyers to obtain Writ of Mandamus against the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) over its failure to conduct continuous voter registration.

Sata yesterday said in 1996, the country enacted a law compelling ECZ to conduct continuous voter registration, but the institution had abrogated this law for over a decade now.

Sata said as a result, ECZ had continued to disenfranchise the people of Zambia as evidenced in last year's presidential election.

He claimed that ECZ was also taking advantage of the small number of voters to print extra ballot papers in order to manipulate the votes and the people of Zambia.

Sata described ECZ as an impotent and incompetent institution, which required to be challenged in the courts of law. "In 1996, we enacted a continuous registration of voters law and [former] president [Frederick] Chiluba assented to the said law. President Chiluba was reluctant to bring continuous registration law in operation," Sata said. "We now appreciate why he did not bring the law in operation."

He said if ECZ was challenged now, the 2011 general elections would not be rigged.

He said the failure to implement the law by ECZ had hindered many potential voters' constitutional rights, saying there was great need to avoid a repeat of that in 2011.

Sata therefore, urged his legal representatives to obtain a Writ of Mandamus to force the commission to start voters registration immediately.

"To avoid future rigging of elections, we need the above law implemented immediately. Can you please therefore, obtain a Writ of Mandamus to force the Electoral Commission of Zambia to start continuous registration of voters," stated Sata in a letter to his lawyers.

For many years now, civil society organisations including, Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), Anti-Voter Apathy (AVAP), Non-Governmental Organisation Co-ordinating Council (NGOCC) among others have been expressing concern about the failure by ECZ to implement continuous voters registration exercise despite the law being in place.

However, ECZ has attributed the failure to lack of finances.

Labels: ECZ, ELECTIONS, SATA

posted by MrK @ 5:05 AM