ECZ PARTNERS WITH SHOPRITE TO BOOST VOTER REGISTRATION ACCESS
THE Electoral Commission of Zambia ECZ has announced a partnership with Shoprite Zambia that will allow selected Shoprite stores countrywide to serve as voter registration centres during the ongoing 15-day extension.
ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Brown Kasaro says the collaboration is aimed at improving convenience and accessibility for eligible citizens who have not yet registered as voters.
Kasaro has thanked Shoprite for what he describes as a commendable show of corporate social responsibility in supporting a key national civic exercise.
The Commission has deployed registration officers to the designated outlets to ensure the process is conducted professionally and in line with electoral procedures.
A full schedule of participating Shoprite stores and operating hours will be published to guide the public.
The ECZ is urging all eligible citizens to take advantage of the extended voter registration period.
Zambia should adopt an electoral system where at presidential, MP and councillorship levels, there should be equal participation of men, women and youths. For example, if a political party elects a man to be their presidential candidate, then the running mate should be a woman. The same for MP candidates and for councillorship positions. This way the need for byelections would be reduced as the running mate would assume the substantive position in case the incumbent dies or resigns. Lets try such a system in Zambia. We could even extend it to inclusion of youths and people who are differently abled. For instance if a political party elects an adult woman as a candidate, then the running mate could be a male youth etc. ECZ send this as my submission to the constitutional review process.