Maravi

Voter registration needs to continue

Voter registration needs to continue
By The Post
Wed 01 Dec. 2010, 04:00 CAT

The voter registration exercise came to a close yesterday. But the numbers registered as still far below the minimum required for us to have meaningful elections next year in which all the citizens over the age of 18 years participate.

The numbers registered are too small for next year’s elections to be truly democratic and representative of the wishes of the great majority of our people. We say this because democratic elections are inclusive.

The number of registered voters must be large enough to include a large proportion of our adult population.

A government chosen by a small, exclusive group is not a democracy - no matter how democratic its internal workings may appear.

And as Mark Storella, the US Ambassador to Zambia, has correctly observed, the future of Zambia’s democracy lies on this voter registration exercise that ended yesterday.

But we know that this exercise did not capture the numbers of voters it was expected to register. This being the case, where does it leave the future of our democracy?

This voter exercise is a very important undertaking which needs to be administered with maximum care and rationality.

Given the importance of this exercise and the fact that there are still more people to be registered, an extension of the period for registration of voters becomes inevitable, unavoidable.

What we need to put in place now is a system that will continue to capture voters, especially the young ones, until the time we are about to start printing the voters' roll.

We need young people to register in numbers for next year’s elections. Their participation in next year’s elections is of paramount importance because this country is theirs, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is theirs.

Our hope is placed on them. Zambia belongs to them. Zambia’s future belongs to them.

We must do everything possible to help them understand this and take their rightful place in the politics and governance of our country. They need help because of their lack of political and social experience.

And because of this, a number of young people are not taking their citizen duties seriously. You can’t make fundamental changes in the country without the involvement of young people; without their active participation.

All over the world, it is young people who are actually involving themselves in the struggle to eliminate injustice, abuse, oppression and exploitation.

They are the ones who most quickly identify with the struggle and the necessity to change or eliminate the conditions that exist.

That is why we need to mobilise them to register as voters so that they can change that which needs to be changed.

The young people are the most active and vital force in society.

They are the most eager to learn and the least conservative in their thinking. We urge all our political parties to engage these young people and go into the question of bringing into full play the energy of our youth.

We all know that it is these young people who haven’t yet registered as voters even though they have attained the age of 18 because it is them who have difficulties obtaining National Registration Cards (NRCs) required for one to register as a voter.

We shouldn’t treat these young people in the same way as everybody else and ignore their special characteristics. We must care for our youth and show concern for their participation in the governance of their country.

Our people’s right to vote is a powerful weapon, an instrument of liberty, justice and peace that shouldn’t be wasted at all.

On their voting, on the quality of it and the discernment behind it, depend the progress and peace of our country.

And the most important political right of any citizen is the vote. The vote is a serious duty that has to be fulfilled all the time.

Whether our country will have good or bad laws, an upright or inefficient administration will depend on the voters.

A person who is able to vote but never votes is guilty of a serious omission. Citizens who do not care for their duty of voting are an easy prey to tyranny.

The neglect of the duty of participating in the choice of leaders at all levels brings catastrophic results to the nation.

It is therefore a great mistake - it is actually a crime - to shun this responsibility or to frustrate any citizen’s desire to register and vote in elections.

It should be understood that the neglect of participating in voting and in the election of good leaders allows unworthy candidates to take leadership positions and brings disharmony in our country.

To neglect to vote is to lose a person’s right and the nation’s right.

Therefore, voting is not only our right, but rather our duty. If we don’t register and vote, Zambians run a risk of getting into public offices people who have no national interest at heart and who are going to jeopardise the future of our country, our future, our children’s future and the future of our children’s children.

It’s clear that the responsibility to vote is one which needs to be taken seriously because on it lies the future of our country.

For these reasons, the voter registration exercise should be continued; it cannot be stopped in such an arbitrary manner.

There is need for continued mobilisation of young people to register as voters; educating them on the need to participate in the choice of leaders. There is need to give more money to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) for this exercise.

And whatever money will be spent on this exercise, it will be money worth spent. And we urge the international community to render the Zambian government any possible assistance in this regard. Elections begin with the registration of the voter.

If there are problems here, the whole electoral process will be affected and we will not be able to have election results that truly reflect the wishes of the people and which will ensure that the government does, indeed, rest upon the consent of the great majority of our people. More time and resources need to be allocated to the organisation of elections.

We say this because elections are the central institution of our democratic representative government.

And the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed. The principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of elections in which the greatest possible number of eligible citizens participate.

It is therefore important that the registration of voters is revisited and every effort is exerted to ensure that the largest possible number of citizens who qualify to register as voters do actually register and vote in next year’s elections.

Labels: MARK STORELLA, VOTER REGISTRATION

posted by MrK @ 3:21 PM