1. Introduction
The Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) is a monitoring coalition comprising four faith based organizations namely, the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) and with Caritas Zambia under ZEC. The Chief Executives of CCZ, EFZ, JCTR and ZEC serve as CCMG’s Steering Committee. Now that Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) h as announce d the official results , CCMG is able to independently verify the accuracy of the presidential election results.
As part of its overall effort to observe the 2015 presidential election, the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) conducted a Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT). The PVT methodology involves using statistical principles and information technology. It provides the most accurate and timely information on the quality of Election Day processes and enables independent verification of the official results based on observation of voting and counting at polling streams and polling stations.
2. Findings
CCMG has heard from 99 % o f it s PVT monitors located at 703 polling streams at 501 polling station s in every province, all district s and all 150 constituency of the country. At these polling stations there were 398,220 registered voters and 130,717 votes were cast on Election Day . The official results as announced by the ECZ are consistent with CCMG’s PVT estimates. This means that the official result for every candidate falls within CCMG’s PVT estimated range . For example the ECZ has announced that Hakainde Hichilema of UP ND received 46.7 % of the vote and CCMG ’ s PVT estimates he should receive between 46.2 % +/ - 3.7%. Similarly, t he PF’s Edgar Lungu received 48.3 % of the vote according to the ECZ and CCMG’s PVT estimates he should receive 4 8 . 6 % +/ - 3.7% of the vote. In both examples, the ECZ’s official result falls within CCMG’s PVT estimated range.
Download the entire report here: http://caritaszambia.org/index.php/publications/general/file/74-independent-verification-of-the-official-results-for-the-2015-presidential-election
