20091222
allafrica

THE recent by-elections have been characterised by low turnouts and observers have said part of the reason for apathy is that the voters' roll is not regularly updated.

Despite the law providing for continuous registration of voters, the update is done every five years before holding general elections.

This practice has short-comings, as it is not possible to capture all eligible voters including those that may have re-located given the limited time and enormity of such an exercise.

Inevitably, many would-be voters are disenfranchised especially those that live in peri-urban and rural areas where obtaining National Registration Cards is difficult.

The planned registration exercise by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is not a departure from past practice, which means it will not resolve the long-standing limitations that go with registering voters in a fixed period.

As usual, the exercise will stir emotions, accusations and counter accusations from frustrated stakeholders but it is hoped that the ECZ will be left to carry out its mandate without undue pressure.

What needs to be addressed however, is the long-term solution to this issue so that eligible voters are registered at the same time when they obtain the national identity documents.

Apart from inadequate funds, the ECZ has repeatedly bemoaned the fact that the national registration department is ill-equipped and frustrates efforts of the ECZ to embark on continuous registration.

Apparently, this department is still not computerised and the ECZ which is advanced in such areas cannot tap the huge data bank that registration department holds.

The other complaint is that the ECZ still has not decentralised and some of its equipment such as computers, which it has placed at councils at district level, lies unused because of lack of staff.

While the fresh registration of voters is welcome, the ECZ needs to find permanent and long-term solutions so that updating of the voters roll becomes a continuous process.