Press statement by ZEIC
Your Vote is your Power, don’t sell it…
Lusaka, 27 July 2016:
The Zambia Elections Information Centre (ZEIC) is urging all citizens to value and protect the power of their vote by exercising their voting right on 11th August 2016.
With exactly two weeks before the polls, and as campaigns are going on, we encourage citizens to remember that voting is one of the single most powerful ways in which they participate in the governance of the country, by choosing their own leaders. No one has a right to take this power from them, through whatever means.
The ZEIC has received concerns from citizens participating in ZEIC platforms on SMS, email and social media that in some contexts, politicians are enticing voters with bribes to influence their decision-making. This kind of electoral corruption is not good for democracy and we encourage voters to resist and report to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), such kind of malpractices.
Importantly, we wish to encourage voters to come out in numbers and vote to ensure that they usher in leaders of their choice. Let us keep our tempers down, let us avoid violence and let us avoid any actions that may make the final results not to be fair and credible. If you decide to sell the power of your vote, you will not be helping anyone, even yourself because elections do not come everyday.
If you have questions and concerns, or if you would like to share reports on anything that you think may affect the credibility of next month’s elections, do not hesitate to report to the ZEIC platform by sending an SMS to 2323, and the people at the ZEIC situation room will get back to you.
To the politicians we say: do not manipulate citizens to vote in a certain way. To the citizens we say: your vote is your power and it is your right, do not sell it.
Issued by the Co-Chairs of Zambia Elections Information Centre (ZEIC)
Asking for a vote requires no lies,one can only have a vote by stating what he has done to the people of Zambia.And it’s only PF which stands a big chance for this year’s election.and people are willing to vote for ECL come 11th.its 70+1for PF no doubt.