Six million of Zambia’s targeted 9.1 million presidential ballot papers have already been printed at the Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing plant in Dubai, with the contractor assuring stakeholders that the entire consignment remains on schedule for delivery to Lusaka by July 28 despite a brief disruption during a stakeholder briefing.
Providing an update on the progress of the exercise, Al Ghurair General Manager Lakshmanan Ganapathy said production of the presidential ballot papers would be completed within the next few days.
He explained that serialisation would continue over the weekend and into next week before the printing lines are switched to National Assembly ballot papers.
“We have 12 ISO certifications. The entire production team and managers are trained in managing security printing. We have a zero-error policy,” Ganapathy said.
“There are multiple levels of checking at every stage. Our team ensures that there are no duplicate ballots, no missing ballots, and the correct quantity of ballots are packed. We are packing according to polling stations.”
Al Ghurair, which also printed Zambia’s ballot papers for the 2016 and 2021 general elections, recently completed a 156-million-ballot project for Ethiopia.
The company remains confident it will maintain the production pace required to print Zambia’s estimated 36 million ballot papers and complete delivery of the entire consignment to Lusaka by July 28.
Stakeholders observing the printing exercise praised the transparency of the process after touring the highly secured production facility.
Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) Executive Director Authur Muyunda said stakeholders had been granted access to various stages of the production process and given an opportunity to ask questions.
Meanwhile, Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD) Director-General Frankson Musukwa welcomed the printing of 13,000 braille ballot jackets for visually impaired voters, describing the initiative as an important milestone in making Zambia’s electoral process more inclusive and accessible.
However, the stakeholder briefing briefly became tense when a representative aligned with the Tonse Alliance repeatedly challenged Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) officials over the commission’s refusal to disclose certain ballot security features after being informed that such information could not be made public.
ECZ Vice-Chairperson Vincent Mukanda, who is leading the commission’s delegation in Dubai, said party representative Enock Tonga had “almost caused confusion” by persistently demanding the disclosure of security features that are never revealed during the ballot printing process.
Mukanda urged stakeholders with concerns to engage the commission through the appropriate channels instead of disrupting official briefings.
“Come out and engage us, frankly. As a commission, we would have loved to be printing from home,” he said.
“There’s never an electoral system which is 100 per cent perfect in the world. We can only strive to better what we have, including the printing process.”
He said the ECZ maintains an open-door policy and encouraged stakeholders to familiarise themselves with established electoral procedures, noting that a better understanding of the process would help eliminate unnecessary misunderstandings.
Chief Electoral Officer Brown Kasaro thanked stakeholders for their continued participation and reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to transparency throughout the printing exercise.
He said the ECZ’s technical team would remain in Dubai alongside accredited observers as production continues. Mukanda’s delegation is expected to return to Zambia this weekend, with a new team led by Commissioner Zevyanji Sinkala assuming oversight of the remaining stages of the printing process.
With presidential ballot printing expected to be completed today, production will immediately shift to National Assembly ballot papers as preparations continue for the scheduled shipment of the full consignment to Lusaka by July 28.