By XAVIER MANCHISHI   –

THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has said the 2011 tripartite elections were conducted in a transparent manner within the full provisions of the electoral law.
ECZ public relations manager Cris Akufuna said the commission had been compelled to issue a statement following continued reports in some sections of the print and electronic media casting doubt on the credibility of the 2011 Presidential election results.
The speculation has become rife since Patriotic Front secretary general Wynter Kabimba was quoted as saying he had ‘smuggled’ foreigners to help his party with the Parallel Voter Tabulation (PVT).
But Mr Akufuna said the commission was not privy to arrangements Mr Kabimba is alleged to have made to facilitate the entry of some foreigners to conduct PVT and what role they played.
He said it was also on record that following the declaration of the 2011 Presidential elections results there was no election petition filed in the Supreme Court to dispute the results.
“This is conducted in full view of all monitors and observers that have been duly accredited by the Commission in accordance with Section 75 of the electoral Act and Regulations 16 of the Electoral Code of Conduct,” Mr Akufuna said.
He said access to polling stations is also strictly regulated under Regulation 16 of the Electoral Regulations and that polling agents of all election candidates are also entitled to witness the count and announcement of results in each of the 6456 polling stations countrywide.
Mr Akufuna added that the monitors and polling agents were entitled to witness the count and announcement of results from each polling station, as was the case in the 2011 elections.
The collation of all the polling station election results for each of the 150 constituencies was also witnessed by the election agents, monitors and observers who had been accredited by the Commission at the respective constituency centres.
Mr Akufuna said the transmission of the constituency election results to the electoral commission’s national Elections Results Centre at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre was witnessed by the election agents, monitors, and observers who were also availed copies of the constituency elections results.