NGOCC Engages ECZ on Electoral Process

The Non-governmental Gender Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) says the women’s movement has been concerned with the low numbers of women in decision-making positions especially politics.

Speaking during a meeting with the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Chairperson Ms. Mwangala Zaloumis yesterday, NGOCC Board Chairperson Ms. Grace Manyonga-Sinkamba said women were absent at Local Government and Parliamentary levels.

“Over the years, NGOCC and the women’s movement has been concerned with the low numbers of women in decision-making positions especially politics. And one of the reasons is that women do not have specific quotas as is the case in some countries. As a voice of over six (6) million women, we are determined to see more women in political spaces to influence policy as per our vision and mission,” Ms. Manyonga-Sinkamba said.

“As the women’s movement, we are in the process of developing a position document to recommend for Proportional Representation (PR). The President of the Republic of Zambia has also in the recent past proposed the PR. Further, we are proposing subsidiary law to compel political parties who fail to adhere to Proportional Representation to be disqualified in an election. We are therefore engaging with you, as a Commission to seek your view on how best this can be structured.”

Ms. Manyonga-Sinkamba said violence has been cited as one of the reasons for the women shunning politics and elections.

She said NGOCC wanted to see the Commission being tough in curbing political violence before, during, and after elections.

Ms. Manyonga-Sinkamba said there was need for the Commission to evoke the law and ban political parties that engage in violence.

“We commend the Commission for undertaking continuous voter registration. We are hopeful that the Commission will disaggregate the data as it is being captured,” said Ms. Manyonga-Sinkamba.

And ECZ Chairperson Ms. Zaloumis said it was worrying that only few women in the country were participating in politics.

“The issues you have raised are not new…these issues have been there for a very long time. The issue of having low numbers of women participating in politics is worrying. As ECZ we are always looking forward to having more women offering themselves to participate in politics. Women should show interest in politics early,” Ms. Zaloumis said.

“I think culture is also contributing to this because women want to leave politics to men. They also feel that maybe they may not be accepted. NGOCC needs to do a lot of education when it comes to this area. Politics starts from the ward level…if there are more women occupying decision-making positions at ward level, then we can have more at Local Government and Parliamentary levels. We need to prepare women early. When it comes to violence against women, ECZ has Conflict Management Committees that deal with violence before, during and after elections.”

Ms. Zaloumis said it would be good to see NGOCC conducting voter education in the communities.