Ballots Arrive; Rigging Claims An Act Of Desperations – ECZ

The Electoral Commission of Zambia says there is an element of desperation by politicians raising claims of rigging in the electoral process.

And veteran politician Simon Zukas says fears of rigging the August 11 elections are genuine.

Featuring on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk ECZ public relations officer Chris Akufuna said the printing ballot papers had been completed with the first consignment coming on Thursday at 14:00 hours.

He said the ECZ was amazed at the levels of suspicion around the electoral process.

“I must say that some of the accusations are quite amazing. Have we reached such levels of superstition that people to say that the ink will disappear on the ballot papers? It is not the first time these accusations are being raised because we had the same in Durban and we demonstrated to the political representatives present,” he said.

“It is desperation on the part of some political players raising those accusations. We get these accusations.”

Akufuna said the ECZ was not an active player in the elections but a referee so they could only play their role.

“The commission is only a facilitator of the process. They are a referee and not players so matters of law and order, public order act fall within the powers of the police,” he said.

“This accusation of collusion with government is perception maybe because the commissioners are appointed by the President. Our advice to political parties is guard your votes by having representatives at the polling stations.”

And Akufuna said the controversial flyover the United Party for National Development rally in Kanyama by a helicopter brandishing a Patriotic Front chitenge was highly provocative.

“”…that was wrong, it was not correct and we did say on our facebook page that it was highly provocative because the UPND had a right to be in Chawama,” he said.

“We understand they have written a letter but we have not yet seen it, so we will wait for the official channel to deal with that process.”

And Zukas who is one of the elders under the Zambia Elections Monitoring Centre said the rigging fears needed to be dealt with by the authorities.

“I think it is a natural fear about rigging because there is a history where the incumbent may tamper with the process,” he said.

“There is a distortion in the public owned newspapers and ZNBC that would affect our final judgment.”

Zukas said the ruling party should do everything possible to avoid being accused of rigging.

He said that the security around the ballot papers to the time they get to the polling stations should be scrutinized.

“Rigging is the air; ballot boxes can be stuffed so we need to know the security measures. How may ballot papers are assigned to a polling station and what happens where the number of voters is less?” he said.

The ballot papers will arrive in two batches from Dubai and will be stored at a warehouse in Silverest area before onward distribution across the country.

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