Government Working On ‘Hitches’ In Voter Registration

The government has assured Zambians that it is working on hitches and delays to the voter registration process after Justice Minister Given Lubinda said he would not register until the process was fixed. 

Voter registration kicked off on Monday, with the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) aiming to register some 9 million voters by 12th December.

However, the exercise was immediately dogged with accusations of inefficiency. Operation Young Vote have called for increased government funding to alleviate reported bottlenecks at registration offices, while Kanyama MP Elizabeth Phiri urged the ECZ to station more officers at each station.

After touring several voter registration centres, Mr Lubinda said the government would do everything possible to resolve these issues.

“We will ensure that this small hitch is worked on and becomes more efficient so people should not be discouraged as we are doing everything possible to have the process normalized,” he said.

The justice minister noted that it took about 6 minutes to register each person but urged Zambians not be discouraged from voting. 

He said the public response to voter registration so far had been impressive and encouraged all Zambians to continue to register.