BY SYCORAX TIYESA NDHLOVU –
ZAMBIA is making strides in its democratic dispensation and economic development as multi-party politics has brought about divergent and opposing views while infrastructure development is currently taking place throughout the country.
But these political and economic strides might negatively be affected by high voter apathy that has characterised every election over the years.
One of the pillars of democracy is to have regular free and fair elections where citizens have the right to choose political leaders of their choice.
But with high voter apathy in our country, this seems not to be the case.
With this in mind, efforts should be made to reverse the high voter apathy trends in the country if democracy is to flourish and lead to a sustainable development process for the benefit of all Zambians.
Zambia has a population of about 14 million people. But how many citizens register as voters? How many of the registered voters actually participate in elections in our country? Do those who actually participate represent the true picture of democratic dispensations in a country?
If one analyses the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ)’s report in the Press for any election  held in the past two decades, one would see that voter apathy is just too high for democracy to flourish in this country.
When one compares this apathy with what obtained during the United National Independence Party (UNIP)’ regime under Dr Kenneth Kaunda and that of the first multi-party politics in 1991  tripartite elections, one can see how high voter apathy has become in our democracy.
Using the recent Mansa Central by-election, one sees that voter turnout percentage is far less than 50 per cent. Assuming this was an the examination, one would say almost every candidate failed the examinations.
Voter turnout during UNIP-era and in 1991 was high. Sometimes even offices were closed for people to go and vote, and most of the people actually voted for the candidates of their choice.
Now most of the winners in most of the by-elections win by minority vote. This is because, firstly, very few citizens register as voters.
Secondly, very few registered voters turn out to vote. To make matters worse, the number of participating political parties in the elections is unnecessarily to high against the few registered
voters who actually cast their ballot.
Therefore, the unnecessary high number of political parties participating in each election and few registered voters who turnout for election render the whole election undemocratic because at the end of the day the winner has far less votes than those who didn’t vote for him or her.
Many people argue that it is not necessary to register as a voter because elected political representatives neglect them when they are put in office. Some citizens feel left out of the democratic dispensation soon after electing some individual or collective political leader in office.
For example, we have learnt of Press reports before where some members of Parliament (MPs) and even some councilors were being called to their constituencies to discuss development issues soon after 2011 tripartite elections.
And President Michael Sata has literary urged Cabinet ministers, most of whom are also elected MPs, to go to their constituencies and see the suffering of the people where some children have no pairs of shoes and probably are learning in muddy grass-thatched classrooms.
President Sata enjoined ministers not to spend a lot of time in their respective offices, as work is in their respective constituencies.
The President also urged the ministers to go to their respective constituencies to explain Government policies, and how these were benefiting or will benefit all Zambians.
He was saying this because he  knows the observations of most citizens in Zambia on their elected political leaders. Mr Sata knows that most MPs and Cabinet ministers desert voters in their constituencies soon after being voted into office and, in the process, community needs
aren’t addressed.
When the community feels needs aren’t addressed means high unemployment and high poverty levels become common in a country. When high unemployment and high poverty levels are common, citizens don’t see the need for voting for political leaders. This is one of the main
causes of high voter apathy in our country.
But what is also interesting to learn from most voters is that they argue that most of their elected political leaders go into political offices with little or no resources; but when they are voted into office, they become rich within a short time while voters’ poverty levels continue rising in the local communities, including where the same elected leaders come from.
One voter in Chipata District’s Luangeni Constituency said participating in voting was just making your friend richer than ever before while you the voter become poorer than ever before.
Such a belief is strong among many citizens in most constituencies and wards in our country.
But there are other factors contributing to voter apathy. Firstly, literacy levels in the country are still low for most citizens do not understand how democracy works. Secondly, political education is too low for such levels of literacy to easily comprehend that they have the power to make elected leaders be accountable to them as electorate.
Most people don’t know that sometimes by not participating in choosing political leaders of one’s choice, one is actually facilitating those who are not supposed to win or those who they don’t support to win an election.
What is also worrying is that although someone wins an election, with a minority vote, he or she will not be free to interact with many citizens in that constituency or ward to discuss governance and development-related issues that affect his or her constituency or ward because such a person knows that one is not popular in that area.
To make matters worse when such an elected leader calls for a meeting, most of the residents in that constituency or ward might not come for the meeting because he or she is not their favourite leader. As a result, one might shy away from going into his or her constituency or ward.
When political representatives rarely visit their respective constituencies or wards, local community feels their needs aren’t well represented both at council and National Assembly levels. So what is debated in some councils or Parliamentary sessions might not represent the felt needs of local communities.
High voter apathy is a sign a sign that for a long time now, citizens are not getting the benefits of voting for political representatives.
This is because unemployment has been increasing, thereby increasing poverty levels, especially in rural areas.
High voter apathy is a sign of loss of confidence in both the electoral and the political system.
It is in this light that one gets surprised to see governance stakeholders being involved in voter  or political education just a few weeks or months before elections.
In a country like Zambia where voter apathy is too high, voter education is supposed to be continuous. Elected political leaders are supposed to work with the electorate to boost citizens’ political participation morale.
Therefore, for citizens to turn out in large numbers in elections, all governance stakeholders should team up to sensitise, create awareness, inform and educate citizens on the importance of participating in elections. This could also be accompanied by necessary legislation to support and inform the electorate on political representatives who neglect their electorate soon after being voted into office.
A good example of how political education improves voter turnout was in 1991. MMD at that time aggressively went flat-out to create awareness on some of the things which UNIP was not doing properly which contributed to high unemployment and high poverty levels among Zambians.
It was from such information that most people realised that UNIP had more real or perceived weaknesses than strengths which the MMD leadership, if allowed to form government, would address.
This is why MMD was voted into office. This was also the case with the PF before they formed Government. They went flat-out to inform and educate citizens throughout the country about how MMD was misruling the country, thereby, among other things, creating high unemployment and high poverty levels among many citizens.
Do you remember Dr Guy Scot being transported on a bicycle in Eastern Province’s Chadiza District on his way to address Chadiza residents before 2011 elections?
When citizens are told why they should participate in elections and benefit from participating in elections, voter turnout during elections would become high.
While the Government is doing everything possible to increase and improve on road infrastructure countrywide, this should be supported by elected leaders visiting their respective constituencies to learn more about local community felt needs facilitating development projects.
Such an approach to democracy and development will increase citizens’ participation in elections.