The just concluded Presidential by-election in Zambia was characterized by Low voter turnout (less than one-third of the electorate) in the history of the country with some places sitting at only 20 percent of registered voters.
According to Mr. Eugene Kabilika, head of Programs at Caritas Zambia of the Zambian Episcopal Conference, no clear assessment has been done either by the Church, the media, civil society organizations or the government to determine why the turnout was low.
Kabilika said that the last census carried out in 2010 put the country with estimated population of 13 Million while the voting age population approximately 6 Million. “Due to time constraints, the Electoral Commission of Zambia did not register new voters, but instead relied on the voter rolls from the 2011 election, in which about 5, Million people were registered. “Of the registered population, only 1.6 Million people voted on that day of election, that is 32.4 percent; making it to be the lowest voter turnout in the history of the country.
The heavy rain that was reported on the material day of the election has been attributed to the![]()
low voter turnout by some analysts, but, according to Kabilika, the argument is disputed by many.
“My personal view for the low voters’ turnout is based on two things; one, since the Patriotic Front party (PF) came into power Zambia has had so many by-elections and people were literally suffering from what I may call the election fatigue. Every time there was a by-election you would see the drop in participation, whereby in a constituency with a population of 8000 people, only 4000 would turn out to vote during the by-elections,” Kabilika explained adding that “Secondly, I think that the way campaigns were being run by political parties, somehow did not inspire the masses to go out and vote and so the rains provided a perfect excuse to stay away from the polls.”
Zambia will be holding a general election in 2016; and according to Kabilika, much has to be done by all stakeholders including the Church, the government through ECZ, the Civil Society organizations as well as political parties in order to improve voters’ turnout next year.
“ECZ must carry out a massive voter registration exercise throughout the country. The last voter registration exercise happened in 2010. Five years down the line many people have come of age and need voters card; others have lost their voters’ cards and need replacements, while others have migrated from where they were registered to other parts of the country and needs to be re-registered afresh,” he explained.
He said, “Although Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) does its own civic education to encourage voters’ turnout, civil society organizations and all those who are in governance programs as well as Church needs to join in the exercise. Caritas Zambia is a member of Civic Education Committee at ECZ.”
“Political Parties also need to carry their bit by encouraging their supporters to go and vote. They have also a major role to play in determining voters’ turnout, a role that is quite often forgotten,” he said.
By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News Reporter