Another Election Year

IT IS another election year and non-governmental organisations (NGO), political parties and government are busy preparing for them.

There are a lot of anxieties, fears and massive campaigns in political parties to gain popularity. Police are also busy arresting those holding rallies without permits. While MMD is busy debating whether current President Frederick Chiluba should stand or not. Though this is an election year things are moving slowly and one wonders whether it will be possible to hold the elections this year with so much happening.

The possibility of amending the constitution or holding a referendum is another aspect that seems likely to delay this year’s parliamentary and presidential elections.

Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), an election monitoring NGO, says they have started their preparations to monitor the delimitation exercise which will start in April.

FODEP information and research manager Mwelwa Muleya said it was important they monitor the delimitation exercise because it was an integral part of the electoral process.

He said political parties may have influence in the delimitation exercise where they will want to have more constituencies in areas were they are popular and less were they are not popular. He said it is important stakeholders are educated so they can co-operate with the Electoral Commission when they conduct the delimitation exercise to insure that they are given enough information about the geographical areas of the country.

The Electoral Commission will be assessing the constituencies and polling stations in April this year. There are currently 150 constituencies and 4,610 polling stations which may be increased to 5,500 if the Commission increases the number of constituencies.

The voter registration exercise is also due to start in April.

Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) information and research officer Derrick Mushitu said there will be fresh registration of voters this year because the NIKUV cards have rubbed off. He said this is good because there will be new registers and people expect to see a more transparent system in the voter registration.

Muleya complained the 1995 NIKUV voter registers had many anomalies which eliminated a lot of would be voters. He said some names and voters cards appeared in localities were people did not register as voters. Some people despite registering, they were omitted on the register.

"Of the 2.4 million people who registered as voters, 1.325,053 million voted. At that time the estimated number of eligible voters was 4.5 million. The number could have risen to more than 6 million by now," Muleya said.

He said FODEP would this year inspect the voter registers to correct any anomalies and make sure that people collect their voters cards.

FODEP has called on the National Registration Department (NRD) to issue National Registration Cards (NRC) to eligible citizens which is a prerequisite for anyone to register as a vote.

"While FODEP advocates for the use of NRCs for voting, they are not sure if that is feasible because there are a lot of loop holes at the NRD. The system is not computerised and there are many duplicate NRC numbers. Some people were technically knocked out of the 1996 elections by the NIKUV computers due to similar NRC numbers. The use of NRCs would also encourage vote rigging because anyone can get a NRC. If NRCs were to be used, they should be done cautiously," he said.

However, he said the use of NRCs would simplify the electoral process and break the monotonous bureaucracy of voter registration.

AVAP has embanked on an education campaign for all political parties’ youth leaders. The organisation is holding seminars and workshops in provinces for the parties in order to promote co-existence among political party leaders. The theme of these seminars is conflict resolution.

AVAP came up with this theme because most of the elections they are monitoring are characterised by violence among political parties.

"In this vain, AVAP realises that it is important that the youths are educated in co-existence because they are the ones that are being used as tools of violence. It is important that youths take part in elections as contestants and voters not only in campaigns," Mushitu said.

He said most of the old people in political parties use youths to do dirty jobs for them after which they pay them some money or buy them beer.

"It is important that youths participate fully in politics because even if women and youths are the majority, the youths out number the women," he said.

Mushitu said AVAP is sure the avenue of educating political parties especially youths, will lessen conflict during elections. He said NGOs that are in election monitoring should not see election monitoring as the end result but what they should do is to insure the conditions are conducive for free and fair elections.

He revealed the Electoral Commission has formed a National Voter Education Committee comprising many NGOs including community based NGOs with a steering committee of eleven NGOs were AVAP and FODEP are members.

Muleya told The LRF News FODEP hopes elections this year take place before the rain season to make it convenient for people to vote. Although Annie Musashi of Lusaka is sceptical about it.

Musashi, giving her opinion on this year’s elections, said it is not possible to hold the election early because Zambia will be hosting the Organisation for African Unity Heads of State Summit in July, the call for the third term and the possibility of a referendum and amendment of the constitution make it impossible to hold the elections early this year.

"There is so much activity in Zambia this year. The Electoral Commission has not yet announced any thing about voter registration. The exercise should have started by now," she said.

Muleya said the amendment of the constitution might delay the elections like they did in 1996. He said if the constitution is amended again, to suit Chiluba, it may undermine the integrity of the electoral process.

AVAP said their experience in the past elections is that there is so much intimidation on the electorate from the ruling party.

Musashi also said the ruling MMD is intimidating voters by telling them that if they do not vote for them, they will not see any development. He said this is defranchising the voters by denying them their right to vote for a leader of their own choice.

Mushitu said there is also unfairness by the ruling party in the way they use government resources in election campaigns. He said this is against the Electoral code of conduct that allows only the president and the vice-president to use government resources in electoral campaigns.

He said the use of government machinery has been an advantage on the part of the MMD. He added that such practises make the elections not to be free and fair.

Muleya said FODEP would like to see fair media coverage of opposition parties and candidates by the public media.

"It is important that all political parties be accorded an opportunity to be heard through the public media," he said.

In his experience in the recent by-elections, Muleya said in Zambia there is rampant vote buying by both the ruling party and the opposition. He described the situation as unfortunate because people’s votes are bought with cheap things like beer, mealie meal and chitenge materials. He said the electorate especially those in rural areas are not knowledgeable thus it is important that they are told that such leaders do not deliver goods.

Muleya said FODEP has also witnessed a lot of harassment and intimidation of political opponents during elections. He said the police are also being used by the ruling party by denying opposition parties police permits to hold rallies under the Public order Act. He said it is obvious the police are acting under political influence.

A United Party for National Development (UPND) youth, James Mudenda, said he wondered why whenever the opposition asked for a permit they were not allowed on accusations they do not follow police procedures.

He said the women in their party had been denied a police permit to march against calls for the third term and yet some MMD youths marched without a police permit opposing the same calls.

The UPND women were being threatened by arrest and yet we have never seen MMD people being arrested when they march without permits.

Police spokesperson Lemmy Kajoba said police have reasons for not issuing police permits. He said sometimes it is for security reasons because of a possibility of violence. United Nation Independence Party (UNIP) member Chibesa Mulenga asked why they should be a question of security when it comes to the opposition. He accused Kajoba of covering up for the police.

Muleya said there is a lot of voter apathy in Zambia caused by politicians not delivering their promises. He said the hectic electoral process is also another contributing factor to voter apathy.

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