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PRESS BRIEFING BY THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER, MS. PRISCILLA ISAAC
10:00 HOURS AT MULUNGUSHI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE ON 12TH AUGUST 2016
Accredited Monitors and Observers,
Members of the Press,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I welcome you all to this briefing at the National Election Results Centre.
The Commission would like to thank Stakeholders and the rest of the citizenry for generally remaining peaceful so far.
Closing of Polling stations
Voting has closed in all polling stations countrywide. One polling station closed at 02:00hrs today in Nalolo Constituency in Western province and the other two polling stations in Kazungula which opened at 16:00hrs have also closed.
Vote Counting
As at 09:00hrs today, results from over 1500 polling stations had reached the collation centres in the various districts. The Commission continues to receive and verify the results from totalling centres across the country.
The Commission wishes to reiterate that all election results appearing on Social media platforms are unofficial. The public is advised to refer to the Commission website and social media platforms at www.elections.org.zm for official results.
Multiple Voting
Preliminary investigations carried out by the Commission on multiple voting did not find any evidence of such occurrence.
Report of an individual running away with ballot papers
The Commission has received a report that an individual from John Laing obtained 3 ballot papers from the polling station and ran out of the polling station with them. He was chased after by uniformed staff and he was apprehended and is in police custody.
Chasing away of Party Agents from the polling Station at Kamwala Basic School
The Commission has established that no polling agents were chased out of Kamwala Basic School as it was reported yesterday. However, the Commission established that a fight broke out amongst Cadres outside the polling station and the police dispersed the mob outside.
Certificates of authority to vote
It was reported that some poll staff were disenfranchised because they did not get the Certificates of authority to vote. The Commission notes with regret that some officers did not know where to get the Certificate of authority to vote. They were supposed to get them from the Constituency where they are registered to vote yet they applied for the certificates where they were posted on duty. In other cases some officers made last minute applications which made it very difficult to get attended to.
The 2000 Voters not allowed to vote
It has come to the Commission’s attention that no such incident happened at Ngwerere basic school polling station.
Voters being closed out at Vera Chiluba Basic School
The Presiding Officer brought in everyone who was on the queue outside by 18:00hrs and locked the gate to ensure that only those that were in the queue inside and outside the gate by 18:00hrs were allowed to vote. When they finished voting then they found a crowd of people who had come to vote after 18:00hrs.
Conclusion
The Commission continues to call for calm and peace until the whole process is concluded.
The Next briefing will be at 14.00hours
