By STEVEN ZANDE –

THE Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) has praised the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) for facilitating a successful and peaceful voter registration exercise.
CCMG spokesperson Cleopas Lungu said Government through the ECZ has successfully conducted a peaceful and proper voter registration process.
He said citizens across the country had access to information on voting that enabled them to turn out in numbers.
Father Lungu said during a stakeholder’s meeting in Lusaka yesterday that, according to information gathered by their district monitors, ECZ and other stakeholders showed that there was effective flow of information through radio announcements, which informed citizens on the importance of registering as voters at Civic Centers.
CCMG monitors in the districts reported only six cases of political party misconduct.
“Despite the above cases, there were no cases recorded of Government food aid or farm inputs being distributed based on support for a political party, forced attendance of political meetings or rallies and incidences of hate speech at political rallies,” Fr Lungu said.
Meanwhile, the church has urged political parties to avoid hate speech and political violence as the country heads towards elections on August 11.
Father Lungu said political parties should abide by the rule of law to guarantee peace.
“Having witnessed violence in the period under review, CCMG appeals to all political parties to refrain from acts of violence, including hate speech, physical violence, and harassment and declaring of ‘no go zones’ during campaigns,” he said.
Fr Lungu also urged the media to be factual and accurate in their reporting.