By ALICE NACHILEMBE
The Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) says that the inadequate awareness on the Online Pre- Voter Registration process is a source of concerned.
ZCID Executive Director Doreen Njovu said Concerns by the general public should have been addressed had the Commission preceded the exercise with voter education.
Ms Njovu said the unfortunate part is that the Commission decided to move on with the process while leaving behind the citizenry with little or no information on how to participate in this vital exercise.
She said the commission has placed too much emphasis on the Online Voter Pre-registration without effectively balancing and informing the people on the physical voter registration process.
Ms Njovu said many electorates and stakeholders are lacking this information and more especially those in the rural areas where they have no access to the internet.
She said the lack of sensitization has brought a lot of speculation and suspicion among stakeholders and the citizenry and.
Ms Njovu said that the ECZ seem to be bulldozing its way through everything without adequate consensus building which may led to serious consequences in the nation.
“If this is not properly managed, it could be a source of conflict to destabilize the 2021 elections. As a Centre for interparty dialogue, we are also deeply concerned at the lack of consensus building on key electoral issues such as prisoners’ right to vote and the 2021 nomination fees,” she said.
We strongly restate our position on the need to reduce nomination fees as submitted by all the political parties and stakeholders. The nomination fees are too high for ordinary Zambians to participate in the 2021 general elections. The ZCID board furthers calls on all the political parties and stakeholders to deepen the culture of dialogue as we head towards the 2021 General Elections in order to promote peace and unity in our nation.
