About the Electoral Commission of Zambia

The Electoral Commission of Zambia is an independent and autonomous Electoral Management Body (EMB) responsible for spearheading, facilitating and supervising the electoral process of Zambia, in line with the country’s electoral system. The primary goal of the Electoral Commission to deliver a credible electoral process  is achieved through:-

• The delimitation of constituency, ward and polling district boundaries;
• The registration of eligible citizens as voters;
• The conduct and the supervision of the  country’s Presidential, National Assembly(parliamentary) and Local Government elections;
• The provision of electoral information and voter education  to members of the public and the  electorate on the various phases/stages of the  electoral process and elections, in particular;
• The establishment of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for the management of electoral disputes; and
• The continuous review and update of electoral laws.

VISION
An electoral process that commands public confidence for sustained democratic governance.

MISSION STATEMENT
To be an autonomous Electoral Management Body promoting democratic governance through the delivery of a credible electoral process.

SHARED VALUES
The Chairperson, Members, Management and Staff of the ECZ are committed to

• Ensuring the transparency of the electoral process;
• Delivery of credible elections at all times;
• Guaranteeing impartiality in service delivery to stakeholders in the electoral process;
• Embracing tolerance of individual views and opinions and exercising flexibility in the conduct of duties; and
• Openness to new ideas.

FUNCTIONS
Constitutional Functions

• Article 76 of the Constitution of Zambia lays out the constitutional functions as follows:-
• To supervise the registration of Voters and review the Voters Registers/Roll;
• To conduct the Presidential and National Assembly Elections;
• To review the boundaries of the Constituencies into which Zambia is divided for the purposes of elections.

Statutory Functions

In addition to the functions given to the Commission by the Constitution, the Electoral Commission has the following statutory functions to perform:-

• To conduct and supervise the Local Government Elections (Local Government Elections Act 282);
•  To conduct Voter Education (Electoral Act No. 12 of 2006);
• To conduct referenda (Referendum  Act  CAP  14);
•  To formulate and review Electoral General Regulations (Electoral Act);
•  To resolve Election disputes through establishment of Conflict Management Committee (Electoral Act);
•  To perform any other statutory function for which the National Assembly may call upon it.

POWERS OF THE COMMISSION
The Commission has regulatory powers to determine how all the Elections activities shall be run. The Electoral Act No. 24 of 2006 empowers the Commission to make such regulations vis-à-vis, the registration of voters, Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, Elections Offences, Electoral Code of Conduct and Penalties, Elections petitions and the hearing and determination of applications relating to Parliament.