On 20th January 2015, Zambians went to the polls to elect the State President. As Zambians went to vote, some people took photos of their ballot papers. We saw people sharing pictures of ballot papers on how they had voted on social media.
Taking a picture of the ballot paper to show one’s vote was wrong said Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Director Priscillar Isaacs.
She said this during a question and answer session at the Results Management Center set up at Mulungushi International Conference Center, further stating that ECZ would have to see how they would deal with that in the next election.
Going in the booth with a smart phone may not be allowed in future elections.
When counting of results at polling stations concluded in many polling stations, we saw announcement of results by the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) start around 04.10 hours in the morning.
On January 21, 2015, after an intervention from Hakainde Hichilema UPND President, Justice Ireen Mambilima, Chairperson ECZ stopped the broadcasting of results because in many areas in Zambia some people had continued voting because of bad weather.
Bad weather had made it very difficult for even ECZ to communicate. Some districts could not be reached because they were outside coverage areas. Results were received electronically.
Ms Isaacs said earlier on ECZ had challenges in receiving faxes and had to liase with Zamtel after which they had started receiving faxes. Faxes were used in the transmission of election results.
ECZ had also deployed satellite phones in areas which were not serviced by the global standard for mobile  (GSM) communications. In this election, we have learnt that there are many rural areas that are not covered by GSM technology. This means thatthese areas cannot be reached by the mobile network. For communication purposes however ECZ has been using satellite technology. Isaacs said this when she explained the challenges that ECZ had faced.
It should be noticed that Cell phones require cellular towers, which connect with varying signal strength for someone to make a call. In those places where Cell phones do not reach, satellite phones can be used.
On January 22, voting had continued in many of these rural places. Ms Isaacs said announcement of results was to resume because areas where voting was taking place on this day could not be accessed by the GSM communication. So there was no way voters would be influenced by the results that where being broadcast by ZNBC. It is safe to conclude that these rural areas where also not accessible by ZNBC broadcast coverage.
Satellite phones however enable us to make calls from almost anywhere because their infrastructure does not rely on a terrestrial cell phone network. Instead, they beam their data directly to and from satellites orbiting Earth.
The infrastructure of some of these rural areas which were serviced by ECZ like in Mitete are places where Justice Mambilima said that they had to use boats and ox- carts to deliver ballot boxes.
To meet communication challenges in such areas, a satellite phone would have been used as it connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites. Satellite phones provide similar functionality to terrestrial mobile telephones; voice, short messaging service and low-bandwidth internet access are supported through most systems.
Satellite phones in recent times are similar in size to a regular mobile phone while some prototype satellite phones have no distinguishable difference from an ordinary smartphone.
There is need for sustainable progress for rural areas in Zambia in terms of communication. I appeal to ZICTA to make sure that  they connect rural areas that do not have GSM service to access mobile services.
ECZ needs to make better use of ICT in order to do a better job of managing both natural and man-made disasters. The rains have characterised this election and this was anticipated by all since this election was being held in the rainy season.
ECZ contracted Zambia Air Force (ZAF) to transport ECZ officials and ballot boxes to rural areas that were not reachable and whose roads where impassable.
Due to bad weather some ZAF planes could not take off to designated Polling stations and this delayed voting in some areas. This was a climatic issue which ECZ has no control of and hence voting was postponed to the next day which was the January 22. Voters however braved the rains and went to vote despite the low voter turn out.
ICT can help prevent problems from turning into disasters that impede sustainable development.  Isaacs said challenges included connecting to places where bridges had been washed away in some rural areas. These areas could no longer be accessible by road. Zambia has had it’s share of disasters especially floods that result in washing away bridges and also displace people. Having a flood usually means that electricity is shuts down, technicians cannot work properly and there is generally a ripple effect on all social activities.
ZESCO Public Relations Manager Henry Kapata, however, said that they did not shut down any electricity on voting day as he dispelled rumours that some areas of the country had no power.
When announcement of results was resumed by ECZ, Justice Mambilima had an emergency meeting the next day with the PF and UPND. She said they had a contract with ZNBC to beam the results live.
She said the meeting had to do with repeating of results for Kabompo. She said results released for Kabompo were wrong even after being corrected. “What happened,” asked Mambilima?
“What we can establish is that something or someone has gone wrong. We need to get to the bottom of this. Right now ECZ and ZNBC are glaring at each other. ECZ has the correct results. We will establish how a result released correctly can be transmitted wrongly,” explained Justice Mambilima.
She added that the issue of ZNBC getting wrong results, something somewhere is not adding up. In other elections, we used MUVI TV and did not have a problem. ECZ now has a dispute with ZNBC. ECZ results are intact as they are verified. Too busy to start quarrelling with ZNBC at this point.
Screens at the results center were taken down because they we’re showing wrong results. Justice Mambilima suspended results by ZNBC.
“The issue with ZNBC is not wide spread. We were being told some constituencies in Eastern Province the issue of the constituency in Kabompo and in Chililabombwe. We have not been given a widespread picture. Just the fact that such a thing can happen should set goose pimples upon our spins. Is it a work of hackers? We are still approaching it with an open mind. We have to sit with ZNBC to investigate what could cause such a situation to arise so we cannot say it is hackers, NO,” explained Justice Mambilima.
She observed that transmission of results from far flung areas need technology and the use of satellite phones.
“We must look at the commissions operation holistically to make it work more efficiently to even include having mobile apps. We really need to modernise in terms of technology and operations. In terms of our population they need to also accept these technologies,” said Justice Mambilima.
She added that it was not to long ago when they said they had developed a prototype which could transmit results to ECZ from the polling station.
“You can imagine if we had that in place we would not be talking of ZAF now waiting for them because they could transmit to us using satellite technology. When we mentioned this there was an uproar from one of our stakeholders that we reject it totally. You see now where we are we must look at these options so that the whole thing functions efficiently. We are for modernization and progress but we must be given the capacity to do so in terms of funding and also in terms of hiring very highly qualified to manage those systems,” explained Mambilima.
She added that electronic voting was something which was on their cards and that they were considering it.
“It has a lot to do with our stake holders particularly the political parties. I say so because there is a question of logistics here. You say vote anywhere you want to vote, there will be all sorts of suspicions here. It is a wider issue. It goes even with the application of technology. We need wider consultations with stakeholders,” she said.
“If we say vote whereever you want to vote, all of you will turn up in Lusaka then we run short of ballot papers. I think you know from our politicians how contentious a ballot paper is when it comes to our politicians that they have to see us printing them. They don’t trust us printing on our own. It is a wider issue that has to do with the application of technology that people will be able to vote and be told that they have run out of ballot papers. So it is a wider issue where we need wider consultation with our stakeholder even the civil society organisations. That is way forward,” explained Justice Mambilima.