By REBECCA MUSHOTA –

THE African Union (AU) observer mission to this year’s presidential election has said that it is impressed with the way the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has organised the election.
AU head of mission Kgalema Motlanthe said in an interview with journalists at Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday that the ECZ had prepared the election fairly well.
Mr Motlanthe who served as South African president and deputy president said the ECZ had built on previous experience which had gone a long way and set up a good election.
“We have gone through a number of polling stations and have compared notes with political parties, the Acting President, the European Union, ECZ and we have not come across any major glitches.
“Our overall impression is that we are impressed by ECZ,” he said.
Mr Motlanthe said the AU observed at one of the polling station which was Jacaranda School in Lusaka that a few voters were getting confused because the school had two polling stations.
He said it was unfortunate that once a person was sent to another polling station within the school, they had to join the queue from the back.
Mr Motlanthe said some voters had worn out cards who were sent back.
Going forward, he said, the ECZ should scale up the voter sensitisation programmes to ensure that most people voted in 2016.
Mr Motlanthe also said the losing candidates should accept the results as elections were meant to strengthen democracy.
He said the losing parties should just treat the end of the election as the beginning of campaigns for the next election.