20091228
allafrica

THE Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has challenged political parties to help inspire Zambians to go and register as voters during the forthcoming 90-day voter registration exercise to ensure high turnout of voters in future elections.

Fodep spokesperson Macdonald Chipenzi said in Lusaka yesterday that eligible voters should turn out in numbers to help grow the budding democracy in the country.

Mr Chipenzi said in an interview that political parties were key players in the voters' registration exercise and they should not leave the task of mobilising potential voters for registration to the Government and civil society organisations.

He said the MMD and opposition parties should be in the forefront and ensure they conducted their affairs in ways that would inspire the members of the citizenry to register to deal with voter apathy.

Mr Chipenzi said as key players in the electoral process, the conduct by politicians could either encourage potential voters to register or discourage them, depending on how they handled their affairs in political parties.

"The political parties should rise to the challenge and help encourage the potential voters to go and register as voters because that is the starting point for this democratic exercise," he said.

He said the current low voter turn-out could only be abated through the increased number of people on the voters' roll, hence the need to intensify the awareness for the forthcoming exercise.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) recently announced that it would next year embark on a 90-day continuous voter registration exercise throughout the country in readiness for the 2011 general elections.