ECZ TARGETS 3.5 MILLION NEW VOTERS AHEAD OF 2026 POLLS
By Nelson Zulu
The Electoral Commission of Zambia-ECZ- has revised the 2026 general elections roadmap with a nationwide mass registration targeting 3.5 million to the existing 7.07 million voters.
Speaking during a stakeholder engagement in Lusaka this morning, ECZ Chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis says the commission signed a contract for voter registration kits and software on July 28, 2025, allowing the exercise to proceed in a structured manner across all 156 constituencies instead of the earlier stated dates of between May and July 2025.
Ms. Zaloumis says the mass registration, scheduled to run from October 13 to November 11, 2025, will cater for new registrations, replacements of lost or damaged voter cards and transfers, while holders of voter cards issued in 2020 and during the continuous registration will not be required to re-register.
She said the commission is targeting an estimated 3.5 million eligible registrants based on the latest Zambia statistical agency figures and has set April 30, 2026 as the date of register certification and cut-off for eligibility, meaning those who will be 18 by that date may register during the mass exercise.
Meanwhile, ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Brown Kasaro has disclosed that 2,141 kits will be made available during the process and that the commission remains keen on delivering a free and fair election next year.
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