5 November 2008
THE Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) has said the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) performed much better during the just ended presidential elections compared to the general elections in 2006.
And the ZCID has said political parties should engage in dialogue, as it was the best way to conduct politics.
ZCID chairperson Njekwa Anamela said the ECZ managed the elections well as they were done in a peaceful and transparent manner.
"There has been a marked improvement in the management of elections this time as compared to the last elections," he said.
Mr Anamela made the remarks in Lusaka yesterday when he presented an interim report on the October 30, presidential election.
He observed that the opening and closing of polling stations were done on time as was the case in most of the polling stations visited and that all materials in most polling stations were delivered on time.
Mr Anamela said the counting and collection of ballots was done in an orderly and transparent manner.
He said there was a marked improvement in the management of the election results compared to 2006.
Mr Anamela commended Zambians for maintaining a peaceful atmosphere during the very tightly contested election.
He said Zambians had shown to the outside world how civilised and resolved they were regarding the entrenchment of democratic ideals of the country.
Mr Anamela said ZCID's participation in the election was mainly motivated by the need to ensure credibility of the electoral process and the election results.
Mr Anamela said ZCID participated in the election by training polling agents with support from DFID at the British High Commission in Zambia, The Royal Netherlands Embassy and the Danish Embassy.
He said his organisation assisted political parties with the training of their polling agents.
Mr Anamela said the ZCID constituted a team of senior political party leaders from all its member parties to undertake a joint observer mission.
He said this was the first time it was being done in Zambia and proved very useful in ensuring the smooth running of campaigns and the voting process.
Mr Anamela however observed that there were a few issues that needed to be addressed in the Zambian electoral process in order to strengthen it.
And the ECZ will tomorrow conduct a verification exercise of ballot papers of the just-ended presidential elections in all constituencies in the country.
According to ZNBC news monitored last night, ECZ public relations manager Cris Akufuna said the verification was a normal programme of the commission and was not prompted by any complaint from any political party.
Mr Akufuna said town clerks and council secretaries in various districts would supervise the verification exercise.
He appealed to political parties and other stakeholders to attend the verification exercise, to be conducted in local authorities.
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