CHRISTIAN CHURCHES MONITORING GROUP (CCMG) For Free and Fair Elections SITUATIONAL STATEMENT ON THE 2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Tuesday 20th January 2015 as of 1100hrs 1. Introduction The Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) has deployed a total of 1,108 trained and accredited monitors for the 2015 presidential elections: 105 roving monitors, 300 general monitors and 703 PVT monitors. The PVT monitors deployed to a carefully selected nationally representative sample of 703 polling streams located at 501 polling stations in every province, district and constituency of the country. PVT Monitors report in near real time by sending in observer reports throughout the day via coded text messages. As of 1100 hrs CCMG’s PVT monitors reported that across the country the vast majority of polling stations opened and had all their necessary supplies. This is based on reports from 648 of CCMG’s 703 PVT monitors (92%) located in every province and every district (except Chama). Those CCMG PVT monitors who have not yet reported do not have cell phone coverage; they will report at a later time. 2. CCMG The Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) comprises four faith based organisations namely, the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) and with Caritas Zambia under ZEC. The Chief Executives of CCZ, EFZ, JCTR and ZEC serve as CCMG’s Steering Committee and all of the monitors were carefully selected from the partner organisations. 3. Opening Time CCMG PVT monitors report 97% of polling streams were open by 06h30. There were only three polling streams (less than 1%) that had not opened as of 900hrs. At 60% of polling streams PVT monitors reported that it had rained the night before. 4. Setup 98% of polling streams were set up so that voters could mark their ballots in secret. At 99% of polling streams the ballot box was shown to be empty before it was closed and sealed. 1 of 2 CCMG Situational Statement January 20th 2015 5. Polling Materials 98% of polling streams had indelible markers (for marking voter’s fingers). 99% of polling streams had ballot papers. 92% of polling streams had its official mark/stamp (for stamping ballot papers). 96% of polling streams had a voters’ register. 6. Polling Officials 3% of polling streams had more than five (5+) polling officials, 15% of polling streams had exactly five (5) polling officials, 76% of polling streams had four (4) polling officials while just 6% of polling streams had three polling officials or fewer. 48% of polling officials were women. At 97% of polling streams there was a uniformed police or security personnel present. 7. Party Agents FDD had a party agent for Edith Nawakwi at 37% of polling streams. MMD had a party agent for Nevers Mumba at 34% of polling streams. PF had a party agent for Edgar Lungu at 89% of polling streams. UPND had a party agent for Hakainde Hichilema at 96% of polling streams. 8. Incidents There were isolated cases of duly accredited CCMG monitors being denied access to polling streams by presiding officers. At 9 polling stations CCMG monitors were initially not permitted to observe of which eight have since been resolved. There were also two instances where polling officials confiscated mobile phones from PVT monitors. While these incidents are of concern they were not widespread and did not undermine the ability of citizens to observe their own elections. 9. Conclusion This is a situational statement as of 1100hrs on Election Day and reflects the preliminary trends. CCMG Monitors remain at polling streams and polling stations, are continuing to observe the process, and are still sending in reports. CCMG as appropriate will issue additional situational statements. CCMG will issue its preliminary statement on the conduct of voting and counting on the morning of Wednesday January 21st at Southern Sun Hotel.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:02:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015