Sept. 25, 2006

International Observers Happy With Electoral Process

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)

INTERNATIONAL and local election observer missions in Zambia for this week's general elections have expressed satisfaction with the electoral process.

Three days before Zambia goes to the polls, the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) election observer mission said yesterday Zambia's electoral reforms had levelled the playing field.

Mission leader, Rajkeswur Purryag, who is speaker of the National Assembly of Mauritius, said at a Press briefing in Lusaka that from the meetings held with stakeholders so far, it was clear that the reforms were being accepted.

Mr Purryag said it was evident that most stakeholders were happy with the way the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) was handling the process.

He cited the printing of ballot papers, which he said was done in a transparent manner, the enforcement of the Code of Conduct and the administration of the Public Order Act (POA) and access to public media except the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) as being good developments.

Despite some problematic areas, Zambia was on the right path.

The observer mission, however, expressed concern at the low number of women candidates contesting the elections. Mr Purryag said the SADC team would remain in Zambia until October 5.

The African Union (AU) observer/monitoring team pledged to make an independent judgment of the electoral process in Zambia.

Team leader, Mninwa Mahlangu said his team would evaluate the factors that may impinge on the credibility of the election process as a whole.

Meanwhile 48 more European Union (EU) election observers arrived in Zambia yesterday, increasing the number to 140 EU observers to be involved in Thursday's polls.

EU election observer mission Press officer, Sara Fradgley said in a statement yesterday that more than 50 locally recruited short-term observers from all EU member state embassies would also join the mission.

She said the presence of short-term election observers meant that the mission had 140 people from 22 countries, making it the largest international election observation mission in Zambia.

The mission is led by Annemie Neyts, a member of the European Parliament from Belgium.

The Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) also noted with confidence that the electoral process had been transparent with full participation of various stakeholders.

SACCORD executive director, Lee Habasonda said he was happy with preparations the ECZ had made so far and expressed the hope that the commission would remain transparent.
 		  
 

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