U.S. Ambassador’s Statement on Elections Interesting

23 May 2011

editorial

THE statement made by the United States Ambassador to Zambia, Mark Storella, is a very important one for all those interested in seeing Zambia continue with its tradition of holding peaceful and fair elections.

Mr Storella observed this much.

When it comes to holding peaceful and transparent elections, Zambia has been a leader in the region and this can be attributed largely to the experience of the electoral Commission of Zambia in handling this activity.

Over the years, the ECZ has worked to intensify the involvement of stakeholders in the electoral process, and has invited them for meetings and observations in specific areas of interest.

Some of these are the printing and movement of ballot papers, a demand which came from submissions of political parties.Other than that, the ECZ has tried to help level the playing field by taking submissions and promoting the enactment of the Electoral Code of Conduct.

This is a very well-intended document whose enforcement has suffered partly because of the conduct of political parties themselves.

But all in all, the ECZ has suffered no serious accusations of mishandling elections to warrant the kind of machinations some civil society organisations and churches are engaged in to undermine its image.

Some churches have gone so far as to offer their parishes to handle a parallel vote tabulation system, portraying it as the only way to ensure free and fair elections.

This group started its campaign by first maligning the ECZ and throwing around wild accusations of vote rigging.One reason for this is to condition the minds of Zambians to reject the results of elections should their preferred candidate lose.

Secondly, they began to suggest the use of the PVT system to use as a “back door” method to shoe their candidate into State House.

The ploy was to use the PVT system to usurp the powers of the ECZ to count votes and announce election results.

That is why well-meaning Zambians have said the PVT is unwelcome at this time because it would simply introduce another area of sharp conflict.

The better approach is what the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia has suggested: no PVT now, but if stakeholders want it, they may recommend a format for other elections after this year’s.

Ambassador Storella has added to this wisdom by advising that the law be respected. And current law authorises only the ECZ to count votes and announce election results.

Civil society can observe the elections and give their various analyses after the ECZ has announced results.

Reversing this order, as some churches and civil society organisations are suggesting, would simply be importing anarchy.

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