7,500 police officers mobilized for Zambia's presidential election

Zambian police have mobilized 7,500 police officers to ensure peaceful presidential elections next week, a senior official said on Friday.

Zambia Police acting spokesperson Esther Katongo said out of the total 17,000 police officers in the country, 7,500 will be assigned to ensure that the election are held in a peaceful atmosphere.

"We would like to assure the electorate that their security during and after voting is guaranteed and what we want from political leaders is their cooperation," Katongo told a local radio station.

She said the remaining police officers will be deployed to other areas of need such as communities and high ways to ensure that there was proper security during the election period, adding that the authorities would ensue that there was maximum police presence in all parts of the country.

The police has also established a command post in Lusaka, the country's capital, which will be receiving reports from all parts of the country and to ensure that there was quick response to any case report.

"We are also going to put check-points on all high ways to check every vehicle for offensive weapons and to prevent political parties from transporting their members from one part of the country to another because this causes violence," she added.

Zambia will hold a presidential election on Jan. 20 necessitated by the death of President Michael Sata last October. Endi