By Macdonald Chipenzi
30 DAY VOTER REGISTRATION PERIOD VS. THE PROVISIONS OF THE CURRENT LAW. IT MAY BE AN ACT OF ILLEGALITY & IMPUNITY.
In Zambia, Law seems to mean nothing as long as ONE is a state institution or a cadre close to/associated with the ruling party.
The Electoral Commission Zambia (ECZ)’s prescription of a 30 day period for the registration of 9 million voters in Zambia ahead of the 2021 General Election is not backed by and not provided for in the current law.
In addition, the Commission has no mandate whatsoever to amend/alter or negotiate the law in its current form. Only Parliament has that mandate.
The provisions of the current law are very clear. The law states, in Section 7 of the Electoral Process Act No 35 of 2016, that “the Commission SHALL conduct a continuous registration of voters”.
This is mandatory not optional to the ECZ and we wonder where the 30 day registration period of voters is coming from and which law triggers it.
The Commission is only mandated to prescribe “cut off dates with respect to the registration of voters and compilation of the Register of Voters,” including the date by which a person may apply to be registered or change registration details (Section 20(1).
We have observed with concern this trend by the Commission not to follow the well laid down legal provisions in the conduct of its functions as a Commission.
One of the blatant breach of the law by the Commission is the reduction in the Campaign Period.
Unilaterally and outside the provision of the law, the Commission has shortened the Campaign Period to, in some instances, less than 30 days just like the voter registration period is being shortened from “continuous” to 30 days.
In the current law, “campaign period” is defined as ” a period of three months before the holding of an election”. This has not been honored by the Commission for some time now.
For Instance, in Kafue, less than 20 days were defined as campaign period. This impunity must come to an end if law is to be relevant in Zambia.
I submit