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Zambia's electoral body starts deregistering foreigners

Xinhua, June 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Zambia's electoral body said on Thursday that it has started deregistering foreigners who had registered to take part in the country's forthcoming elections.

In May, the privately-owned Post newspaper reported that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) had registered thousands of foreigners who had been mobilized by the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) as part of schemes to rig the August 11 polls.

The paper's investigations revealed that ruling party officials facilitated the registration of thousands of foreigners mostly from Malawi and Mozambique between November and December 2015, and promised them money and jobs if they voted for the party. The paper displayed photos of some Malawians who had obtained Zambian national cards and voters' cards.

The electoral body initially denied registering foreigners.

But Cris Akufuna, the electoral body's spokesperson, said it has started deregistering foreigners as well as other illegal voters from the voters' roll, and that so far five people have been deleted following objections filed by members of the public.

He said the five were deregistered following an inspection of the register that took place from May 15 to 25. The spokesperson also named that one of the foreigners are from Mozambique.

He, however, told reporters that reports of Malawians will only be acted upon once the allegations are authenticated. Endit