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Democratic Governance - News
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Thursday, 23 October 2008 |
The Ambassadors of Finland, Norway and the European Union today signed contribution agreements with Macleod G. Nyirongo, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Zambia in support of a multi-donor funded Emergency Support for the 2008 Presidential Elections project document. Agreements signed today are part of the six agreements for the Support to the 2008 Presidential Elections Open Trust Fund managed by UNDP. USAID signed earlier, the contribution by the Government of Japan will be concluded between the Government of Japan and UNDP Headquarters in New York and Sweden will sign the agreement at a latter date.
Cooperating Partners’ contribution to the forthcoming Presidential elections is approximately 15 percent of the total election budget of the Electoral Commission of Zambia. It covers important areas to the conduct of the elections, including voter education, public information, procurement of election materials, training of electoral officers and collating of lessons learnt after the elections.
The Emergency Support for 2008 Presidential Elections Initiative is a positive development in the implementation of the Paris Declaration of Aid Effectiveness and the Wider Harmonization in Practice. It is a national programme with a harmonized funding mechanism, a national institution is leading the process and one cooperating partner leads the dialogue process. In this regard, the overall project document between the Government of Zambia and UNDP was signed on Tuesday 21 October by the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Honorable Ng’andu P. Magande, MP and Macleod G. Nyirongo, UNDP Resident Representative in Zambia.
“The donor contribution was not symbolic but a practical step by the Governments of Finland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States of America as well as the European Union and UNDP to promote the development of democracy in Zambia”, UNDP Resident Representative Macleod Nyirongo said. He further added that “The cooperating partner response was based on the fundamental principle that elections were an important step in democratisation process as they are a cornerstone for political participation and representation as well as full enjoyment of human rights.” He also noted that the cooperating partners hoped that the support will contribute to the forthcoming Zambian Presidential Election conforming to International Elections standards.
Responding to the press the Ambassadors said that domestic and international observers are important in adressing concerns arising from public perceptions. In this regard the European Union is fielding an election assessment mission which is collaborating with missions from other diplomatic missions. In addition, the diplomatic missions in Zambia will deploy more than 100 teams throughout the country. These teams will liaise with SADC, AU and other international observers. The Ambassadors also indicate that they would only issue statements after the entire process was completed rather than now as it is premature to do so at this stage. |
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