The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has directed aspiring presidential candidates who did not take part in the provincial supporter pre-screening exercise to present all 1,000 supporters during the official nomination period next week.
ECZ Chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis said the week-long exercise, conducted across all 10 provinces, was designed to verify supporters in advance in order to reduce congestion and delays during nominations.
She said some political parties made use of the exercise, while others failed to participate despite expressing interest.
“Today, we had seven political parties that showed interest to have their supporters pre-processed… And only two actually came up,” she said.
Zaloumis explained that candidates who missed the exercise are still eligible to file nominations, but will be required to bring all their supporters physically during nominations for verification.
“If they wish to come next week, we will be open, but they have to bring the 1,000 supporters for us to be able to process them,” she said.
She added that timing will be strictly observed, warning candidates to adhere to the scheduled programme.
“If the schedule says Monday, you can’t come on Friday,” Zaloumis said.
The ECZ said the pre-screening initiative was introduced to reduce pressure during nominations by allowing advance verification of supporters required for presidential candidates.
Zaloumis said the Commission’s ICT teams are preparing for increased activity during the nomination period, with additional equipment expected to speed up processing.
“As you saw, 100 supporters took about 40 minutes to process. On that day we will have more kits so that we can process as many as possible,” she said.
She further described the exercise as largely successful, adding that final participation figures will be announced after all provincial reports are consolidated.
“Next week is the week we will know who is actually going forward to become a candidate in the election,” she said.
