Africa-Press – Zambia. On behalf of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), it is my pleasure to warmly welcome you all to this Press Briefing aimed at addressing two (2) key issues bordering on the mandate of the Commission which dominated the airwaves in the past few days namely:
1. Tender for the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) for the Electoral Commission of Zambia, and;
2. The Use of Campaign materials of non-contesting political parties during campaign periods.
I am delighted to note that we are live streaming this briefing on various social media platforms, including our official ECZ Facebook page. To all our stakeholders joining us virtually this morning, I extend the same warm welcome to you.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me to address these matters as follows:
1. USE OF AUTOMATED BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (ABIS) IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS
The Electoral Commission of Zambia is scheduled to conduct a Mass Mobile Registration of Voters exercise in 2025 in preparation for the 2026 General Election. The exercise is targeting to capture an estimated 3.5 million Zambians that will be eligible to register as voters. The new registrations will be added to the current register that stands at 7.073 million voters.
The Commission wishes to state from the onset that the ECZ has been utilising the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) technology in the voter registration process since 2006, therefore this is not a new development as being alleged. The technology has been used for the past 19 years to prepare the Register of Voters for the 2006, 2011, 2015, and 2021 General Elections, including the ongoing Continuous Registration of Voters exercise in 30 districts in all the provinces that commenced in 2022.
It should be noted that Regulations 11 and 17 of the Electoral Process (Registration of Voters) Regulations No. 80 of 2020 mandate the Chief Electoral Officer to compile a
Register of Voters for each polling district, which must include, among other elements, biometrics, portraits, names and Identity numbers of voters. In addition Regulation 29(1) (c) mandates the Chief Electoral Officer to ensure that the name of any person does not appear in more than one Register of Voters, or in the same Register of Voters more than once.
Therefore, to ensure the accuracy of the Voters’ Register, the Commission adopted and implemented the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) technology to facilitate detection of multiple registrations. The ABIS technology uses human biometric features such as fingerprints and portraits for identification. The ABIS technology is critical to the operations of the Commission as it relates to voter registration.
It is important to note that similar systems (technologies) are utilised by other Electoral Management Bodies and Immigration Authorities Worldwide.
Further, in compliance with the Data Protection Act No. 3 of 2021, the Register of Voters is hosted internally within the Commission and managed by Commission personnel.
It is important to note that the qualifications for one to register as a voter are outlined in Article 46 of the Constitution of Zambia, and Section 8 of the Electoral Process Act No. 35 of 2016. Therefore, no one will be disfranchised on account of technology used in the voter registration process.
PROCUREMENT PROCESS
Arising from the need for ABIS, the Electoral Commission of Zambia on 30th January, 2025, issued the tender for the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) for the ECZ.
The tender which was issued on electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) System closed on 28th March, 2025 and was open to all eligible bidders, both local and international, in partnership with citizen bidders. The tender was administered following the rules under Open International Competitive bidding procedures as provided for in the Zambia Public Procurement Act. No. 8 of 2020 and Public Procurement Regulations, 2022. At the close of the tender, 12 companies submitted bids and were all subjected to the evaluation process.
Following the conclusion of the evaluation process, the Commission issued a public notification on 10th July, 2025 of the best evaluated bidder. The Notice of Best Evaluated bidder closed yesterday, 16th July 2025, after which subsequent processes will follow.
Therefore, the allegations levelled against the Commission on this issue are baseless, misguided and unfounded.
2. THE USE OF CAMPAIGN MATERIALS OF NON-CONTESTING POLITICAL PARTIES DURING CAMPAIGN PERIODS.
The Commission has noted, with concern, the debate among some stakeholders regarding the use and wearing of campaign regalia which does not depict the symbol, colour or pictorial images of the contesting political party and or candidate respectively during an election campaign period.
This debate arose following a point of clarification raised during the post nomination Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC) meeting held on 10 July 2025 at Lavushimanda Town Council ahead of the Mfuwe Parliamentary By-election in Lavushimanda District of Muchinga Province.
The by-election is scheduled to take place on 7th August 2025 and is being contested by three (3) political parties namely; the New Congress Party (NCP), United Party for National Development (UPND) and Socialist Party (SP). The Political Parties Liaison Committee was presided over by ECZ Commissioners, Major General Vincent Mukanda (Retired) and Mr. McDonald Chipenzi.
During this meeting attended by officials from the contesting political parties and Zambia Police Service, a concern was raised on the use of campaign materials during campaign periods such as t-shirts and wrappers (chitenges) by non-contesting political parties. The concern was that some people had taken advantage of these campaign materials to engage in acts of violence and other electoral malpractices.
Some stakeholders wished to know whether campaigners for a candidate could adorn another party’s campaign material bearing symbols and colours of a Party that was not participating in the election.
The Commission would like to confirm and reaffirm its position that only campaign materials depicting the symbols, colours, images of a political party and/or pictorial images of a candidate contesting an election will be allowed and may be distributed and propagated during the campaign period ahead of the forthcoming by-elections and beyond.
Subsequently, it was clarified through responses to some press queries that by law, only campaign materials for contesting political parties and candidates’ ideas, policies, strategies and pictorial images of such candidates should be distributed and propagated to promote peaceful elections during campaigns.
However, this clarification generated further debate from Political Parties that are not taking part in the election and questioned the legal basis of such guidance.
Some stakeholders have gone as far as claiming that the clarification and guidance were illegal and unconstitutional citing the constitutional provisions in Articles 20 and 21 that guarantee citizens freedom of Expression and Association.
The Commission wishes to reiterate that, in as much as the Constitution in Article 20 and 21 guarantees citizens the freedoms and rights, the same provisions derogate such freedoms and rights on account of public order, safety, defense and morality among others.
Since the electoral process is anchored on established laws and in peaceful and orderly electoral environments, the maintenance of public order and respect for the rule of law among players during electoral campaigns is paramount in safeguarding individual freedoms and peace during campaigns. The Commission, therefore, in Article 229 is mandated to “implement the electoral process” and “regulate the conduct of candidates”. It goes without saying that providing guidance on how an election ought to be conducted is within the mandate of the Commission, and can never be a “misguidance and illegal act”.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Commission draws its mandate regarding regulating the use of campaign materials during campaign political parties and/or candidates from Sections 29 and 89 of the Electoral Process Act No 35 of 2016, as read together with the interpretation section of the same Act.
Section 2 of the Act defines “campaign material” to mean party or candidate manifestos, advertisements, billboards, posters, t-shirts, cloth or other material depicting colours regarding symbols, and other designs of a party or pictorial images of a candidate.” The key words here are “depicting colours regarding symbols of a political party or pictorial images of a candidate”. By law, “a candidate is “a person contesting a presidential, parliamentary or local government elections” and one becomes a candidate after being duly nominated by the Commission, having been adopted by a political party or as an independent candidate.
Section 29 (3) of the Electoral Process Act states that, “A candidate or political party may, during an electoral campaign, publish or distribute campaign materials of such a nature and in such a manner as may be prescribed by the Commission.” Again, this provision empowers the Commission to prescribe the manner in which campaign materials from contesting political parties and/or candidates should be managed.
Further subsection 4 sums it up by providing that; “For the purposes of this section “campaign messages” means an activity, statement or any other form of expression aimed at promoting particular political ideas, policies and strategies for purposes of obtaining votes for a candidate or political party contesting an election.” The provisions of the law on this matter are clear.
The purpose of any political party or candidate campaign materials and messages is to promote the ideas, policies and strategies for that specific election in which the political party has fielded a candidate and/or for that candidate for purposes of obtaining votes.
From the forgoing, the Act is forestalling public disorder during campaigns if campaign messages and materials which do not depict the ideas, policies and programmes/strategies of contesting political parties and candidates are propagated. The emphasis of the law is that such messages and materials should depict political party colours, symbols, ideas, policies, strategies and pictorial images of contesting political parties and or candidate.
We wish to remind the stakeholders that this is not the first time the Commission has guided political parties and/or candidates ahead of an election campaign. In 2021, the Commission guided independent candidates not to use campaign regalia of other contesting political parties and their candidates because it would only confuse voters thereby promoting disorder in the electoral process.
We wish to urge the political parties that those participating in elections must follow the law as prescribed in Section 89 (1) of the Electoral Process Act. It is an offence for any person being a candidate to use a symbol in the course of an election other than a symbol registered with the Chief Electoral Officer. It is also an offence for any other person to associate any candidate with any symbol in the course of an election other than the candidates registered symbol. For the avoidance of doubt Section 89 (1) provides as follows:
“A person shall not – being a candidate use a symbol in the course of an election other than the symbol registered with the Chief Electoral Officer in accordance with this Act and any regulations thereunder or, in the case of any other person, associate any candidate with any symbol in the course of an election other than the candidate’s registered symbol.”
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In conclusion I wish to remind participating political parties and candidates in all the by-elections in Mfuwe Constituency, and Kashiba and Shabo Wards in Mpongwe and Nchelenge Districts respectively, that the campaign timetables were developed by all participating parties after nominations to aid smooth campaigning. Let me assure the contesting candidates and political parties that the campaign time table is sufficient notification to the police for them to proceed with their meetings during the campaign period.
Therefore, the Commission wishes to appeal to all the stakeholders to maintain law and order for the electoral process to thrive for the benefit of the electorate.
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