UPND DEMAND TO INCREASE VOTER REGISTRATION PERIOD GROW LOUDER AS YOUTHS JOIN CALLS FOR EXTENSION OF EXERCISE*
Calls for the on-going voter registration exercise period to be extended have grown louder as the United Party for National Development (UPND) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) youths have continued to pile pressure on the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to consider increasing the number of days once the exercise comes to an end this Saturday.
At a joint press briefing between the Lusaka Province UPND and NDC this morning, the youth leadership from the two parties renewed their vigorous efforts to push ßthe ECZ to increase the number of days so that no eligible Zambian is left out in the exercise.
“We are not going to fold our hands and pretend that all is well. If we see that most of our youths are disadvantaged by not acquiring the voters’ cards, we are going to take to the streets with or without a police permit or we are going to take them to court and ensure that all Zambians are issued with voters’ cards so that they can vote in the forthcoming general elections so that they are able to take part in the selection of their leaders,” he warned.
Mr Banda observed that the registration exercise was supposed to be a continuous exercise where enshrined in the Republican Constitution.
“The ECZ should not disenfranchize us-they have no right to do that. It is supposed to be a continuous process…if you feel like acquiring a voters’ card, you are supposed to be issued with one,” observed Mr Banda.
And Anderson Banda, stated that the youths would not fold their hands and watch the ECZ disenfrenchize eligible voters from registering, said that the youths would ensure that they exhaust all legal avenues including taking to the streets and instituting legal proceedings against the elections body in order to pressure the ECZ to extend the registration exercise.
Meanwhile, efforts to petition the ECZ to increase the number of the voter registration exercise failed to yield results as a UPND delegation comprising of the party’s National Management Committee (NMC) found the ECZ led by Mutale Nalumango found the elections office deserted this afternoon.
*UPND MEDIA TEAM*