ECZ RUBBISHES VOTER MANIPULATION CLAIM

By KALOBWE BWALYA Mr Nshindano said the ECZ presides over the elections of the country, a mandate which all officers take seriously. He was responding to sentiments that ECZ had deliberately registered for voters in strongholds of the ruling party compared to opposition strongholds. Mr Nshindano said that the certified 2021 number of voters stands at 7, 023, 499 and that the final figure was arrived at after inspection, de-duplication and final consolidation conducted by the ECZ. Mr Nshindano said the difference between the provisional and final register is 21, 106. He said only 43.2 percent of registered voters were able to verify their details through electronic and physical inspections. He hoped that all those who did not verify their details will not be disenfranchised in any way due to anomalies that may arise as a result of not verifying one’s details. And Mr Nshindano has also announced that 19 presidential aspiring candidates have so far paid their nominations fees to contest the August 12 general polls. He said the Technical Committee tasked to look at modalities of holding the 2021 general election amid the Covid-19 has developed standard operating procedures aimed at guiding stakeholders’ conduct in relation to the Election calendar. Mr Nshindano said the standard operating procedures were shared with political parties on Friday last week and that they have welcomed the procedures.