A civil society organisation has called for a five-month extension period of the ongoing voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).
ECZ recently announced that it had so far recorded over 1.2 million new voter registrations from phase one to four, which includes new voters updates to existing records.
The commission set a target of registering 3.5 million new voters during the mass voter registration exercise, scheduled to close on 11th November 2025.
But Centre for Elections and Governance Executive Director, Gershom Musonda, has described the number as low, adding that the one-month period allocated is insufficient.
Speaking in an interview with the media in Lusaka, Mr Musonda attributed low number of voters registered during the exercise to limited resources allocated to the commission.
Mr Musonda has since called for increased resource allocation to ECZ through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to enable it to allocate more time to the voter registration exercise.
“Voting fosters development, hence the use of CDF to support voter registration is justifiable,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Musonda has called on political parties and civil society organisations to participate in voter education, adding that it is not the sole responsibility of ECZ.
He noted that some political parties are focused on conflicts within their structures, paying less attention to the mass voter registration.
Mr Musonda further stressed that ECZ is a non-partisan body which needs the support of both the ruling and opposition to achieve its voter registration targets.
“I am calling on the opposition to be visible in mobilisation of eligible voters to register, instead of focusing on differences in their parties. They are the ones who want to get into power. If they don’t support this exercise, where will the numbers come from? They will not just drop into the ballot boxes,” he said.
