The
Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has established Election Support Centres
(ESCs) in all the 10 provinces of the country.
ECZ
Spokesperson Cris Akufuna said the Centres, which he described as first of its
kind in the electoral process in Zambia, will monitor activities and operations
of polling stations as well as report incidences to the Commission headquarters
in Lusaka.
Mr.
Akufuna said the ESCs will act as links between the Commission and national
results collection Centre at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre,
MICC.
The
Election Support Centres will not be allowed to report directly to the national
totalling centre at MICC but to the Commission headquarters.
Mr.
Akufuna, who was flanked by Commission Senior Public Relations Officer Sylvia
Bwalya and United Nations Development Programme Media and Communications
Specialist Sylvia Namuju, disclosed this during a press briefing in Lusaka
today .
Mr
Akufuna said that the national results collection Centre, MICC will soon be
officially launched by Commission Board Chairperson, Justice Esau Chulu.
“The
Commission has established the Election Support Centres in all the 10 provinces
of Zambia. The national result collection Centre is MICC and the official
launch will be communicated to you members of the press at a date to be
announced soon,” Mr. Akufuna said.
And
Mr. Akufuna also disclosed that the Commission through its District Conflict
Resolution Committee has received one case of electoral mal-practice in Kapoche
constituency in Eastern Province but could not divulge further
information on the nature of the electoral offense.
He
further disclosed that accreditation for the media personnel wishing to cover
the August 11, 2016 general election has been extended to August 9th.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Akufuna disclosed that seven trucks carrying ballot papers and non-security
election materials were dispatched to four provinces yesterday.
Mr.
Akufuna named the provinces as Luapula, Muchinga, North-western and Western
provinces.
He
said deployment of Commission staff and materials commences on August 6th,
2016 to 117 polling stations.
Mr
Akufuna further added that the delivery of ballot papers and election materials
to all the district is expected to be completed by August 8, 2016.
The
Commission Spokesperson said that the Electoral body has engaged Zambia Air
Force (ZAF) helicopters to air-lift election materials to far flung areas that
are inaccessible by road and airlifting of election materials commences on August
10.
Mr
Akufuna announced that the national voters register for all participating
presidential candidates is ready for collection at the Commission headquarters.
He
advised political parties wishing to witness the dispatch of ballot papers and
other election materials from the Commission warehouses in Silverest in Chongwe
to do so before the exercise ends.
Mr
Akufuna also revealed that ECZ and media heads and political
parties agreed at a meeting that there should be balanced , fair and
professional coverage to all participating political parties and that the media
were advised to report professionally and continued dialogue between parties
and media houses.
The
ballot papers that were printed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) by Al
Ghurair Printing and Publishing Company arrived in the country last week.
The
nine political parties that are participating in this year’s polls are the
ruling Patriotic Front (PF), opposition Forum for Democracy and Development
(FDD), United Party for National Development (UPND), United National
Independence Party (UNIP), and the United People’s Progressive (UPP) party.
Other
political parties are the People’s Alliance for Change (PAC), the Democratic
Alliance (DA), Rainbow and Green Party.
Wepolneube Lisa Williams https://wakelet.com/wake/fLHyjaLcIB2MLbMJjG4nL
ReplyDeletegalestiogold
rasfisXfal-bi Lisa Burns VMware Player
ReplyDeleteAdobe Lightroom
Yandex browser
hillspiradne