A civil society organisation in Livingstone has expressed concern over the slow pace at which voters are physically verifying their details in the ongoing voter verification exercise. Project Support Learners Zambia (PSLZ), Livingstone District Coordinator, Nyambe Mutete, said if the situation was not addressed, some registered voters would not be able to participate in the August 12 general election.
Mr Mutete called upon all registered voters to make use of the short period given by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to verify their personal details and have errors corrected before closure of the exercise. “We also expect all political leaders to help by ferrying their members to designated centres to verify their details in the same manner they did during the voter registration exercise,” he said.
Mr Mutete appealed to the church to provide spiritual guidance, unity and love ahead of the August 12 general election and to emphasize the importance of co-existence among politicians. And when contacted for a comment, Livingstone District Voter Education and Publicity Coordinator, Melvin Mukela said publicity on the voter verification exercise was already underway.
Mr Mukela, who is also Livingstone City Council Public Relations Manager, said publicity was now being done in the outskirts and rural parts of the district. He said the challenge was most people in the low density areas liked complaining about lack of information even when they had been sensitized.
Mr Mukela, however, said the slow pace of voter verification in some areas was partly as a result of people having verified their details online. He said the response from registered voters in the rural areas was encouraging and advised those in the urban areas of Livingstone to have their details verified physically, even if they had already done the process online. “As we sensitise the residents, we are encouraging every registered voter to ensure they do the physical verification since there is a slight chance, they may have minor errors which they missed while using the online verification platform,” he said. The physical voter verification exercise started on Monday March 29, and is expected to end on Friday, April 2, 2021.
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