CIVIL SOCIETY UPDATE ON THE OBSERVATION OF PRINTING OF BALLOT PAPERS IN DUBAI

Al Ghurair, the company printing the ballot papers for the August 12, 2021 elections today, Sunday 11th July 2021 briefed the observing team that progress had been made in printing the ballots.

According to the Company General Manager, so far the following printing works in percentages have been undertaken:

a) Presidential ballots at 47%
b) Parliamentary ballots at 62%
c) Mayor/Chairperson at 92%
d) Councillors ballots at 29%

In addition the team was presented with a sample of the packaging of the ballot papers plus other election materials as follows:-

1. The packing will be done according to each polling station with each packaging containing the following:

(i) Voters List of all voters at each polling station which will be stuck on the wall outside the polling station.

(ii) Voters Register for each polling station that will be used during the voting process.

(iii) 4 sets of ballot papers (with security features) for each election of Presidential, Parliamentary, Mayor/Council Chairperson and also for the Councillors.

The number of ballot papers will be packaged according to the total number of registered voters at each polling station with an additional +/-5% extras as contingency. Each set of ballot papers are clearly serial numbered and bound accordingly in booklets of 50 leaves in each. Each leaf will have a corresponding serial number on the tag that will remain in the booklet on the polling day.

(iv) Enough GEN20 Forms will be made available (for announcing winning candidates at each polling station) for each of the accredited monitors per polling station. Each copy of GEN20 has a Hologram and cannot be photocopied.

(v) Election publicity materials both in English and in one of the seven local languages used in the location of the polling station.

2. The boxes with materials so packaged for each polling station will clearly indicate all the serial numbers for all the ballots in each box. The boxes will be clearly marked with the name of the polling station, ward, constituency, district and province. All the boxes will then be packaged in pallets according to the 156 constituencies before being shipped to Lusaka, Zambia by end July 2021.

We therefore call upon fellow civil society actors, political parties, and other key stakeholders to sensitize the electorates on this process and actively monitor these packaging sets as they arrive in Lusaka, Zambia and also in the various polling stations where they shall be distributed by the Electoral Commission of Zambia.

ENGWASE B. MWALE
CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVE

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here