Only ECZ Has Powers Over Polls – US Envoy

23 May 2011

UNITED States Ambassador to Zambia, Mark Storella has said only the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has the authority to count actual ballots and to announce official election results.

Mr Storella said civil society observation groups should wait until an official announcement of results by the ECZ before releasing their own analysis of the vote counts and that such analysis should be shared with the ECZ before being made public.

The Ambassador said Zambia had an impressive tradition of conducting well run and transparent elections and urged all stakeholders to respect the Law and proper procedure in order to preserve a peaceful electoral process that reflected the will of the Zambian people.

In a statement released to the Times yesterday, the ambassador speaking ahead of this year’s tripartite elections said there was need for civil society to respect the principles associated with credible election monitoring to achieve free and fair elections.

” Civil society observers should use only the official results announced at polling sites by ECZ in developing their own independent tallies of the election results and should also respect the unique role and authority of ECZ as well as all Zambia’s pertinent electoral laws,” he said.

Mr Storella said his country supported to work with those civil society organizations dedicated to professionalism and nonpartisanship in the conduct of election observers in the nation.

He said his country strongly believed that civil society and other election observers had a substantive role to play in supporting the electoral process and that it was vital for all stakeholders to respect the Law and proper procedure in order to preserve a peaceful process.

“As we draw closer to the national elections in Zambia, I want to reiterate the United States’ strong support for the democratic process in the Republican of Zambia.

The American people look forward to free and fair elections that will further cement Zambia’s reputation as a leader of democracy, peace and stability in Southern Africa,” he said.

Mr Storella said effective observation of elections by both international and local observers was an important part of theelectoral process and appreciated the invitations issued by the Government to international and local observers to observe the upcoming tripartite elections.

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