The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) says the country is not ready to migrate to electronic voting at the moment or during the 2026 General Elections.
ECZ Commissioner Major General Vincent Mukanda states that the commission will not rush to switch to an electronic system of voting until the country is ready for that undertaking.
“We will not be hurried. We will take our time, and when the time is right, and we are convinced that we can migrate, we will do so. But for now and in 2026, please note that there will be no electronic voting,” Maj-Gen. Mukanda told the Zambia Daily Mail in an interview.
Maj-Gen. Mukanda disclosed that the ECZ is currently conducting research on and monitoring how electronic voting is implemented in countries that have adopted the system.
“The commission has conducted some studies, but we are not yet finished. We have yet to benchmark. There are certain countries we have identified that are doing well with electronic voting,” he said.
He added that the ECZ, stakeholders, and citizens of Zambia must reach a collective consensus to migrate to electronic voting before it is implemented, while the commission continues to familiarize itself with the system.
“So it is an issue that is still under study so that if we feel, together with the stakeholders, that every Zambian agrees we must go electronic, then we will move forward,” he said.
Maj-Gen. Mukanda cited Namibia and Nigeria, where electronic voting has previously proved problematic, hence the need for Zambia to carefully study the implementation of the online voting system.