UPND not sincere over voters’ roll - Veep
‘‘It was shocking that the UPND which has been in the forefront calling for clean-up of the voter register is now crying foul.’’
THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is following advice from political parties and other stakeholders in coming up with the new voters' register, Vice-President Inonge Wina has said.
Ms Wina indicated that the UPND had initially condemned the 2016 voter register and went to court to complain that the voter register needed some adjustments.
She told Parliament during the Vice President question time yesterday that it was shocking that the UPND which had been in the forefront calling for clean-up of the voter register was now crying foul. She was responding to UPND Lufwanyama Member of Parliament Leonard Fungulwe who said Government would regret for not adhering to advice from various stakeholders not to get rid of the old voters’ register.
“Equally the international community that was approached also advised that this voter register should be
worked on to come up with a valid register where the members or voters will even have new features that will authenticate the voter including the new portraits.
“All this was to ensure that there were no litigations against the ECZ when it comes to authenticity of voter register. Mr Speaker , Members from the other side should not tell this country that whatever ECZ is doing is wrong and it will bring chaos in the country,” she said. The Vice-President said it was therefore surprising that the UPND had turned around and started accusing Government of wanting to collude with ECZ to manipulate the voters’ roll. “On the contrary the
ECZ is following the directives given by political parties and other stakeholders that have been involved in preparing the 2021 elections. It is not in the best interest of this country to see leaders at every corner to be against what ECZ has announced,” she said.
Meanwhile Ms Wina added: “Mr Speaker the new voter register is necessary because some of the people who have passed on still appear on the old register to the tune of 1.4 million Zambians who were voters but right now they are no more.
“And surely these must be deleted from the new voter register that we shall use in 2021,” she said.