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U.S. Official Urges GRZ To Build Voter Confidence

Mr. Bobby J. Pittman, Jr., the Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs in the U.S. State Department, on Friday, February 24th visited the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and met with ECZ Chairperson Justice Irene Mambilima. Mr. Pittman praised Justice Mambilima's efforts to prepare for Zambia's general election this year.

"For the election to be a success," Mr. Pittman said, "Zambian voters must have confidence in the results. The work Justice Mambilima and her colleagues have done should help build confidence in the ECZ." But Mr. Pittman added that much more work needed to be done, especially by the Zambian government. He said that equitable access to the media was one of the most important means of building confidence in the electoral process.

"Voters must be able to make informed decisions," Mr. Pittman said, "but that is much harder to do when state-owned media are subject to political control." The ECZ was doing a commendable job, Mr. Pittman said, and those efforts would bring even greater voter confidence if the government did more to support fundamental freedoms such as freedom of the press and the right to peaceful assembly.
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