Zambia elections, lessons learnt: Political party perspectives

THE Zimbabwe Election Support Network in collaboration with the Electoral Support Network of Southern Africa, the Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe and the Centre for Innovation and Technology (CITE) hosted a virtual public meeting on the topic: Zambia Elections, Lessons Learned: Political Party Perspectives on September 9, 2021.

The meeting was held on the backdrop of the 2021 Zambia elections, allowing for political parties from the two countries to reflect together on how to work towards a conducive electoral environment. A history of disputed electoral results continues to haunt the electoral space and it is imperative for the electoral management bodies, political parties and civil society organisations to work together to facilitate an enabling electoral environment where the right to vote is protected and respected. The meeting drew key lessons from the Zambian experience meant to strengthen future elections in Zimbabwe and beyond.

The discussion was based on a question and answer approach and focused on answering key questions on the feasibility of conducting elections under COVID-19.

Paurina Mpariwa of the MDC-T noted that elections should unify rather than divide people. She applauded Zambians for giving women and the youths an opportunity to participate in elections and recommended that some constituencies be reserved for women in order to promote women participation in future elections.

She spoke about the importance of the delimitation exercise and the need to follow the law when conducting it.

Paul Mangwana of Zanu PF noted that cheating in an election started with inefficiencies in the delimitation and voter registration processes, hence the need to conduct a watertight delimitation exercise. He encouraged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to tap into technology in order to address potential inefficiencies and to invest in securing the voters roll.

The meeting managed to lay a solid foundation for engagement on the political parties’ participation in elections.