Maravi

Election monitors observe numerous violations of electoral code

Election monitors observe numerous violations of electoral code
By Moses Kuwema
Sat 14 Aug. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THREE Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that monitored the just ended Luena and Chifubu by-elections have observed that there were numerous reports of violations pertaining to the Electoral Code of Conduct in both constituencies.

The three organisations are Anti-Voter Apathy (AVAP), Caritas Zambia and the Southern Africa Centre for the Constructive Resolutions of Disputes (SACCORD).

SACCORD financial and administration officer Theresa Chewe who read the statement on behalf of the CSOs said most of the reports were related to distribution of various materials such as cash, foodstuffs and other merchandise.

“In Luena a named political party was reported to have been giving out torches to would-be voters and a named district commissioner was allegedly issuing cheques to some traditional leaders in the area,” Chewe said.

“These acts are met with strong condemnation from us and we would like to urge the ECZ Electoral Commission of Zambia to put in place stronger measures of how to curb such malpractices as the Electoral Code of Conduct undergoes review.”

She said the organisations would make submissions to the ECZ on a more improved Electoral Code of Conduct following their experiences.

Chewe said they observed imbalanced media coverage of political players in the elections contrary to the Electoral Code of Conduct which demands equal, fair and balanced media coverage of all political contenders.

She challenged media houses to respond positively.

Chewe observed that the tendency by political parties to ferry political campaigners from nearby constituencies and towns during by-elections had also continued.

“We still emphasise our earlier proposal that political parties use local party functionaries in campaigning and mobilising voters. This requires a lot of effort among political parties and stakeholders to build capacity of the local people to manage election campaigns peacefully in their own areas,” Chewe said.

She said the organiations noted serious oversights on the part of ECZ for having allowed political party cadres and representatives to celebrate inside the collation centre.

“In Chifubu, these celebrations were allowed to proceed even before the totalling and declaration of the final results was done. This can cause anarchy and confusion in cases where an error and miscalculation is made and their preferred candidate does not turn out to be the final winner,” said Chewe.

“In future, it would be prudent for the police and the ECZ to ensure that celebrations are done outside the collation centres and after the announcement of the final results.”

Labels: AVAP, SACCORD, VOTER REGISTRATION, VOTERIGGING

posted by MrK @ 4:18 AM