The voter registration exercise has not been conducted in an efficient, effective and orderly manner.

In many places, there have been very long queues. In some places, Electoral Commission of Zambia officers have not been there throughout the period of registration. There are also many cases of equipment failure.

If there’s no extension of voter registration days as many as 4 million people may not be registered to vote – around 40 per cent of 9 million the people the Electoral Commission of Zambia was targeting to register as voters.

The most important political right or privilege is the vote. No one should be unnecessarily denied the right to register as voter.

We therefore urge the Electoral Commission of Zambia to extend the voter registration period to give a fair chance to all qualifying citizens to register as voters.

Fred M’membe

Garden Compound, Lusaka