BALLOT PRINTING TRANSPARENT – YALI

By ADRIAN MWANZA POLITICAL parties should not cry foul after the August 12 elections because the printing of ballot papers has been smooth and transparent, Young African Leader’s Initiative (YALI) president Andrew Ntewewe has said. Mr Ntewewe in an interview said people will need to accept the election results because the printing process had been transparent. The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) contracted Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing firm of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates at a cost of K12.2 million to print ballot papers for the August 12, 2021 elections. Mr Ntewewe said he was convinced that the process was transparent and that there were no red flags raised by the political parties that were monitoring the printing. “I must give kudos to the Electoral Commission of Zambia for their transparent manner of handling the election process which saw political parties PF and UPND observe,” he said. Mr Ntewewe said that he did not expect anyone to blame ECZ if they lost because the electoral body had proved beyond reasonable doubt that it was an autonomous body. He said that the ECZ should be given a pat on the back for the good work and that every Zambian should show appreciation. Mr Ntewewe said that the time in which the process was completed was within the time-frame as there were still a number of days remaining to the election date.