Editorial: Safety First, but Efficiency Serves Everyone
The Electoral Commission of Zambia's announcement that results are temporarily suspended, following concerns of violence in parts of the country, is a serious development. Coming at the end of a polling day widely praised as peaceful and orderly, it is critical that the safety of both officials and the ballots is protected even if it demands more patience of us than we would like as Zambians eagerly await results. That is how we can best continue to demonstrate Zambia’s democratic credentials to the region and beyond.
Our first concern must be for people. The safety of polling and tallying staff, of monitors, agents and voters, has to be guaranteed. These are the men and women who have carried this election on their shoulders, and rushing the vote is not worth a single life or injury. Where violence has broken out, the immediate priority is to restore calm and protect those doing their duty. On that, there can be no argument.
The ECZ must be given the time and space to assess the situation, secure the affected areas and satisfy itself that counting can continue safely and credibly. To rush that process would be a mistake. Pressure to resume the announcement of results must be balanced with patience. There is still a long road ahead until the Commission’s own deadline of Monday morning..
Yet space to act is not the same as silence. A prolonged information vacuum carries its own dangers. When official numbers stop, rumour rushes to fill the gap, and rumour is the oxygen of unrest and suspicion. It is therefore in everyone's interest that, once safety is assured, results resume promptly and transparently. Managing the violence and releasing results efficiently are not competing goals; they are two halves of the same responsibility.
This is why the premature declarations now circulating are so unhelpful. For opposition figures to claim a convincing victory before a single verified result has been announced is deeply irresponsible. Leaders who say they champion peace and stability cannot, in the same breath, act in ways that endanger both.
Early reports suggest that President Hichilema has had a strong night, with strong turnout in traditional areas of support in addition to inroads made elsewhere, and a party content with the direction of the count has every reason to want it finished and announced quickly, not dragged out. Prolonged uncertainty rewards neither winners nor losers; it simply feeds suspicion, and suspicion feeds unrest.
The balance is not hard to strike. Safety must come first, always. But once the affected areas are secured, there is no interest in stretching this out, quite the contrary. The fastest route back to stability is a swift, transparent return to counting at the earliest possible moment. Let the Commission do its work, protect those on the front line of our democracy, and let the verified results follow the moment it is safe for them to do so.