The printing of ballot papers for National Assembly and Local Government ahead of the 2026 general elections has progressed, with over 10 million papers printed so far.
Al Ghurair Company General Manager, Tukshmanan Garnapathy, revealed that National Assembly ballot papers for 84 out of 226 constituencies have been printed.
Mr Garnapathy said ballot papers for 77 districts Mayoral and Council Chairpersons have also been produced, bringing the total number of ballot papers to 5.5 million and two million respectively.
He said the 84 constituencies for the National Assembly translates to about three million ballot papers.
Mr Garnapathy said his company is optimistic that it will deliver the required number of ballot papers for Zambia’s elections before 28th July 2026.
“The printing for all Presidential, National Assembly and Local Government ballot papers will be finalised by 15th July this year. We will move on to serialisation and packing at a later stage,” he said.
Mr Garnapathy told the Zambian delegation led by one of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Commissioners, Zevianji Sinkala that the company has now started packing Presidential, National Assembly and Local Government ballot papers for two constituencies.
“We are now packing two Chipili and Luapula constituencies for Luapula province,” he revealed.
And political party representatives have expressed confidence in the printing process and praised the ECZ for upholding transparency in the process.
Citizens First (CF) representative, Carlos Chishiki, acknowledged that the process was transparent as all the stakeholders were being given an opportunity to go through the process of printing.
Mr Chishiki said Zambians should disregard the misinformation being peddled by some sections of society regarding the integrity of the printing process in Dubai.
“We are here not only representing our political parties but over the 21 million Zambians. I would like to state that Zambians must have trust in the information we are giving them. All the rumours regarding this process must not be accepted,” Mr Chishiki stated.
Meanwhile, Leadership Movement representative, David Kalumba commended ECZ for bringing on board all key stakeholders to monitor the printing process which is underway in Dubai.
Mr Kalumba said the commission was open to all the stakeholders in the manner it was handling the printing process to offer credibility to the process.
He said from the time the printing began, all stakeholders were being given a chance to verify the details of their candidates before taking them for printing.
Mr Kalumba has urged the commission to remain transparent and disregard individuals who were propagating rumours on the printing of the ballot papers.
