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The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has accused the People’s Action for the Country’s Transformation (PACT) of attempting to block a constitutional process, telling the Constitutional Court that fears of voter disenfranchisement arising from the ongoing delimitation exercise were unfounded.
In an affidavit opposing an application for a stay of implementation, ECZ argued that PACT’s petition sought to unlawfully restrain the Commission from performing its constitutional duties following amendments that expanded parliamentary constituencies from 156 to 226.
The application, filed by PACT leader Peter Sinkamba, challenges ECZ’s decision to proceed with the delimitation exercise. However, Chief Electoral Officer, Brown Kasaro, rejected the claims as speculative and premature.
Kasaro said ECZ was an autonomous body mandated by the Constitution to determine electoral boundaries—an obligation he argued cannot be suspended based on anticipated concerns.
He further stated that no delimitation decision had been made, rendering the application legally defective because there was nothing yet before the court that can be reviewed.
He noted that the constitutional amendment enacted on December 18, 2025, compelled the Commission to begin operationalising the creation of 70 additional constituencies ahead of the dissolution of Parliament on May 15, 2026.
Kasaro dismissed allegations that the exercise would invalidate existing voter cards, clarifying that voter cards reflected only the polling station and not the constituency.
He added that the law did not prescribe the sequence in which voter registration and delimitation must occur.
“The law does not prescribe the period in which the registration of voters exercise is to be undertaken nor provide for the sequence or order to be followed prior to or after the registration of voters exercise,” he stated.
Kasaro cited ECZ’s own history, noting that delimitation was conducted after voter registration in 2016 without disenfranchising voters.
He also refuted claims that the Commission had issued more than 8.8 million voter cards, explaining that the 2025 exercise recorded 1.6 million new voters and 1.8 million updates.
The affidavit warned that halting the certification of the voters’ register would derail preparations for the August 13, 2026 general election, as nominations and the election itself cannot proceed without a certified register.
Kasaro stressed that certification did not trigger immediate application of new boundaries.
Kasaro argued that the application for a stay lacked merit and amounted to an attempt to obstruct the ECZ from fulfilling its statutory and constitutional functions.
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