The Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) has commended the Country’s Elections Body for being proactive in it’s quest to address issues related to elections.
SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe observes that the open door policy and willingness to engage stakeholders on critical matters as regards the holding of elections was key to building consensus and demystifying some of the political players in the elections system.
“SACCORD is happy that the reported key electoral issues such as the delimitation exercise, printing of ballot papers, results management, prisoners’ voting and the enforcement of the Electoral Code of Conduct, and voters’ registration were covered.
“The open-door policy of the ECZ and the willingness to engage with political parties on critical matters of the electoral process is key in helping build consensus and demystify some of the issues to political players.
“Some of this consensus is reflected in the outcome of the meeting where it is reported that the ECZ will consider appeals by political parties not come up with a new voters but simply update the current register and the decision to stop funding political parties to observe the printing of ballot papers,” he said.
Mr Cheembe further commended the who attended the recent ECZ stakeholders meeting saying the spirit exhibited is what is expected from ECZ and political parties.
“We commend all the political parties that attended and participated in providing input on the key electoral issues that were discussed. This is the spirit that we expect the ECZ and political parties to exhibit as we continue to build the momentum to 2021.
“Zambians want to see and have a peaceful electoral environment that allows all stakeholders to peacefully participate and platforms such as the political party liaison meeting assist in attaining such a desirable outcome,” he said.
