• Key stakeholders to sensitize electorates on the printing process.
• The boxes with materials packaged for each polling station will clearly indicate all the serial numbers.
• The company printing the ballot papers for the August 12, 2021 elections briefed the observing team that progress has been made in printing the ballots.

Civil Society Organizations observing the printing of Ballot Papers in Dubai have called on other civil society actors, political parties, and key stakeholders to sensitize electorates on the printing process.

Civil Society Representative Engwase Mwale also called for active monitoring of the packaging sets as they arrive in Lusaka and various polling stations where they shall be distributed by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).

Ms. Mwale noted that the boxes with materials packaged for each polling station will clearly indicate all the serial numbers for all the ballots in each box and will be clearly marked with the name of the polling station, ward, constituency, district and province.

She said this after the team was presented with a sample of the packaging of ballot papers plus other election materials.

“We therefore call upon fellow civil society actors, political parties, and other key stakeholders to sensitize the electorates on this process and actively monitor these packaging sets as they arrive in Lusaka, Zambia and also in the various polling stations where they shall be distributed by the Electoral Commission of Zambia,” she called.

Meanwhile, Ms. Mwale disclosed that Al Ghurair, the company printing the ballot papers for the August 12, 2021 elections briefed the observing team that progress has been made in printing the ballots.

“According to the Company General Manager, so far the following printing works in percentages have been undertaken: Presidential ballots at 47%. Parliamentary ballots at 62%, Mayor/Chairperson at 92% Councilors ballots at 29%,” she disclosed as of 11th July 2021.