Church’s participation in Zambia’s elections: Review and analysis

Saturday 24 January 2015 close to midnight, the Chief Justice of the Republic of Zambia declared the ruling party candidate, Edgar Lungu as winner of the tightly contested 2015 Presidential elections.   Later that morning, Mr. Lungu was to be sworn in as the 5th President of the Republic of Zambia at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka Zambia.

Zambia had to go to the polls following the death of Republican President, Michael Chilufya Sata, the second sitting President to die in office in the history of the country. In compliance with the Republican Constitution Article 38, which requires that an election be held within three months(90) days if the office of the President falls vacant by reason of the death of the President, January 20, 2015 was set as an election day for Zambians to elect a successor to the late President Michael Sata. 

Recognising the importance and great interest stakeholders and the nation at large have in elections, five Faith Based Organisations, namely the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections (JCTR), Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) and Caritas Zambia came together and formed a coalition called the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG).  Three of the organisations fall under the Catholic umbrella while CCZ represents mainstream Protestant Churches. EFZ is the mother body for Evangelical or Pentecostal Churches.

Immediately it was work on the ground starting with the setting up of the CCMG Secretariat at Caritas Zambia offices; formation of the steering committee comprising the Church leadership from the five Faith Based Organisations as well as the selection of field monitors from the same organisations.

The overall objectives of the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG), was to observe and monitor the 2015 Presidential elections in order to provide the people of Zambia, political Presidential candidates and the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) with independent non-partisan information on the electoral process. Further to enhance the credibility of the electoral process and promote free and fair elections and continue to advocate for a culture of peace in the nation for which Zambia is known across the continent.

This was to be achieved through a well mapped out plan and professionally designed methodology known as the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT). Speaking at the time of the launching the project, Fr. Cleophas Lungu told the media, “CCMG will particularly focus on management of elections knowing that this has to date been one of the most contentious areas in our experience of elections. To this effect, CCMG is preparing a robust Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) to be used as a tool for monitoring the integrity of election results during and after the counting process of votes. This will be done through the participation of well-trained monitors at the designated polling stations who will be sending official results announced at polling stations to the CCMG results collection data centre,” the Zambia Episcopal Conference Secretary General explained.

The PVT methodology provides independent assessment of official results based on the officially announced and posted results from a nationally representative sample of polling stations and polling streams selected by a trained statistician.

Going by its objectives the Christian Churches Monitoring Group engaged and deployed 703 highly trained monitors to randomly sample 501 polling stations across the country.  On elections day, CCMG deployed a total of 1,108 trained and accredited non-partisan monitors; 105 roving monitors, 300 general monitors and 703 PVT monitors to various polling centres across the country. Through coded text messages the accredited monitors collected data on the conduct of voting and counting process as well as recorded the official vote count thus rapidly transmitting information to the data centre in Lusaka. 

As of midday of elections day CCMG’s PVT monitors reported that across the country the vast majority of polling stations opened and had all their necessary supplies. Ultimately, when the official Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) results were announced, the CCMG could confidently confirm the ECZ results. There was no need for candidates to dispute the results because they matched those of CCMG’s PVT count.

At the helm of it all the Christian Churches Monitoring Group played a significant role in Zambia’s 20 January 2015 Presidential elections.  In fact, the practical participation of the Church in the elections proved to be providential because in unity there is strength, peace and love. Before and after the elections the CCMG, through media briefing and various platforms provided guidance, counsel and good leadership to the whole nation. Thus peaceful and free elections were once again held in Zambia.

When all this was being planned and executed, it was business as usual at Caritas Zambia with our usual programmes that range from Climate Change Adaptation Programme; advocating on behalf of small-scale farmers for good marketing policies, empowering rural communities with income generating activities; engaging with parliamentarians through our Democracy and Governance Programme; lobbying the Government for a pro-poor budget through the Economic and Social Accountability Programme; raising awareness about the injustices in the booming extractive industry and many other projects Caritas is engaged in.

At Caritas Zambia, we have a lot to thank God for.

(By Inonge Mutukwa in Lusaka, Zambia/Caritas Africa info Magazine)

e-mail: engafrica@vatiradio.va