WE DEMAND FOR IMMEDIATE EXTENSION OF VOTER REGISTRATION EXERCISE TO JANUARY 2026
Electoral Commission of Zambia is highly compromised with notable political players *(cadres)* at the helm serving the interest of the ruling party with the aim of disenfranchising Zambians ahead of 2026 general elections.
We have noted with great concern a deliberate cunning plan to induce artificial voter apathy in opposition strongholds.
Our demands are anchored on the following reasons.
1.. Zambia has 12,000 polling stations with a population of 22, 122, 525 people, we find it to be highly suspicious for ECZ to procure only 2000 kits for voter registration exercise.
2.. What is more worrying is that the distribution of Kits per province does not correlate with the population.
Copperbelt – 319
Lusaka – 293
Southern – 288
Eastern – 284
Western – 221
Central – 204
Northwestern – 158
Luapula – 197
Northern – 214
Muchinga – 135
3.. Accreditation process of party officials was only known by ECZ and UPND leaving most opposition political parties in the dark until a day before closure of the process.
4.. No updated information was made public with regards to the number of voters from the last register which had Seven (7) million voters.
5.. Voter registration seem to be more concentrated in specific electoral blocks of interest compared to supposedly opposition strongholds.
6.. Voter registration awareness has been terribly poor despite the government boasting of increasing ECZ budget by 100%
7.. Complications and frustrations caused by difficulties in obtaining police reports by those who lost NRC’s and Voters cards seeking to replace them leading to most people staying away.
8.. This is rain season and most of our people are out farming amidst high cost of living hence the need to extend to give everyone chance to register.
9.. Load shedding and scarcity of fuel is affecting smooth operations of kits hence more time should be given to reach out to more citizens.
10.. Rough terrain due to rains making it extremely difficult for people to access registration centers.
With the above reasons given we are confident that any well meaningful citizen will agree that the extension is inevitable.
MAXWELL CHONGU
CF Youth Chairman.