By FREDRICK MWANSA
Elections are a critical component of a democratic process. Late former United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Anan once said elections, when conducted with integrity, allow citizens to have a voice on how and by whom they are governed.
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the purpose of elections is to ascertain the people’s will regarding their government.
Elections are a process for granting legitimacy to govern and resolving political conflict peacefully while providing an opportunity for vital debate about a country’s future.
However, elections are sometimes fraught with difficulties such as low literacy among electorate, low voter registration rates, a lack of understanding of voting procedures, corrupt practices and electoral violence.
Issues such as corrupt practices and electoral violence can undermine the credibility of elections.
Another persistent problem especially during elections has been the issue of rejected ballots.
To put this in context, 85,795 votes cast in the 2016 presidential election in Zambia were rejected during counting, primarily due to incorrectly marked ballots.
These rejected votes accounted for approximately 2.27 per cent of all votes cast in that election.
Another challenge is the low turnout of voters in elections across Zambia when compared to total registered voters.
This is a serious problem as it is linked to participation, an important principle in any democracy.
For instance, the voter turnout in the 2016 presidential election was 57.73 per cent while that of 2015 and 2011 was 32.69 per cent and 54.42 per cent respectively.
According to stakeholders in the electoral process, the problems of ballots being rejected during the vote count, low voter turnout, violence and corruption are widely attributed to a lack of adequate civic and voter education.
Zambia, a signatory to a number of treaties, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Convention of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the African Union Principles for Democratic Elections (Durban 2002), will hold its next general election on August 12 this year.
As part of its mandate to address such challenges of low voter turnout, rejected ballots, electoral violence and corrupt practices, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) held training programmes for voter education facilitators and voter education committees across the country recently.
This is because voter education is part of the commission’s mandate which is enshrined in the Electoral Process Act Number 35 of 2016, section 80.
The Act states that, ‘The commission shall provide voter education for an election’.
ECZ hopes to raise electoral awareness and provide voters with the information they need to make informed decisions during elections.
According to ECZ, voter education, on the one hand, provides voters with knowledge and information on their rights and responsibilities during an election.
It raises the voters’ awareness and understanding of the importance of elections in a democracy and seeks to provide the citizens with knowledge and skills to enable them participate meaningfully in the electoral process.
On the other hand, voter information is about the basic information that voters need in order to take part in an election and to vote, such as election campaigns, polling day and announcement of results.
During the training, participants learnt a number of critical issues about democracy, such as the ECZ itself, electoral systems in Zambia, candidate nominations and election campaigns.
They participants also learned about organs of Government and who they are supposed to vote for, why citizens should vote, preparations for voting, where and when to vote, and the voting process, including polling station layout.
Other topics covered included correctly marking the ballot paper, assisting voters with special needs, objecting to voting, counting and announcing results at a totaling centre and a national results center, corruption in the electoral process, party agents, monitors, and observers, and the electoral code of conduct.
Itezhi-Tezhi district elections officer Justine Chombo urged voter education facilitators in the area to work hard to ensure that eligible voters turn out in large numbers to vote in this year’s general elections.
Mr Chombo emphasized the importance of elections and urged all stakeholders in the electoral process to carry out their responsibilities diligently in order to gain public trust.
Mr Chombo said good voter education coverage will help to reduce voter apathy and the number of rejected ballot papers in the upcoming elections.
He said this in Itezhi-Tezhi at the council chamber to mark the end of the five-day training for voter education facilitators and district voter education committee.
“As facilitators, you should be non-partisan, objective and transparent in your conduct when conducting voter education” Mr Chomba said.
He also urged voter education facilitators to abide by the electoral code of conduct.
He expressed hope that the facilitators will do the right thing when you are deployed in the wards.
Mr Chombo said the public must be provided with accurate information so that they can exercise their right to vote in an informed manner.
He explained that voter educators must reach out to all communities in a way that is appropriate for their level of understanding.
Mr Chombo urged the facilitators to be wary of the associations that surround them during the facilitation period and to avoid being associated with political parties.
He warned that being associated with any political parties or conducting themselves inappropriately would result in termination of their contracts and withdrawal from the field.
ECZ will place two voter education facilitators in each ward across the country to educate voters on electoral issues.
Itezhi-Tezhi constituency, with 15 wards, will have 30 facilitators to carry out outreach programmes to all communities.
Lawrence Likisi, 44, a physically challenged person of Lilanda Township in Itezhi-Tezhi, thanked the ECZ for being inclusive when recruiting voter education facilitators and other officers.
Mr Likisi, who outperformed many able-bodied hopefuls who sat for the ECZ examination that was used to select the facilitators, expressed gratitude that ECZ has provided him an opportunity based on merit.
“I count it as a privilege to be given this opportunity to serve in a very important capacity as a voter education facilitator,” Mr Likisi said.
He said he learned about the ECZ training initiative through an advert on the ECZ social media page and he quickly applied, only to be interviewed and chosen as a facilitator.
Mr Likisi, who has been placed in Masemu Ward, said he will apply himself fully to reach the target provided to him.
“I live in Masemu Ward and I have no challenges in navigating this ward and transportation won’t be a challenge as the commission has provided us with money for transportation during our activities,” Mr Likisi said.
He urged other people with disabilities to try whenever opportunities are made available by various organizations.
Tyson Mweemba, 42, another voter education facilitator who made it after passing the ECZ examination, believes that it is critical to provide voter education because there are still people who are illiterate and have misconceptions about elections.
“As a voter education facilitator, we need to educate people about their democratic rights and give them information, including some changes that have been made such as the requirement for those held in correctional facilities to vote,” Mr Mweemba said.
Itezhi-Tezhi district only has one constituency with 15 wards and 66 polling stations.
According to the certified ECZ voters register, Itezhi-Tezhi Constituency has 39,641 registered voters, out of which 18,713 are male and 20,928 are female.
Zambia has over seven million eligible voters who are expected to participate in the August 12 general elections. – ZANIS.