A political analyst has observed that the large number of presidential aspiring candidates in this year’s tripartite elections will have a negative effect on the ultimate outcome of the polls.
Dr. Alex Ng’oma, a senior lecturer in the school of humanities at the University of Zambia has since predicted minority votes for the winning Presidential candidate in the polls.
Dr. Ng’oma told QFM that much as it is a democratic right for any Zambian to contest the republican presidency, it is important for aspiring candidates to consider their chances of emerging victorious.
He says some political leaders that will participate in the September 20th general elections have no chances of winning but will merely split votes, a situation he describes as unfortunate.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on Thursday announced that a total of 17 candidates are contesting the Republican Presidency the next month’s polls.
Candidates believed to be front runners in the polls are incumbent Republican President Rupiah Banda on the ruling MMD ticket, opposition Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata, and UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema.
[ QFM ]
Most of these presidential candidates are being sponsored to spoil the votes!Â
Are you telling me Magande, Milupi, Chipimo Jr, Nawakwi, Tilyenji, Miyanda etc are all sponsored? Siulapwa yes, but the rest are just political failures who know very well they can’t win but still want to gate crash the party anyway!
Self deceit! They may not all be sponsored but one truthful fact is that deep down they all know that its really a three horse race: MMD, UPND and PF. However they also may want to know if they are making inroads to other parts in the countryÂ
They are not being honest. I wish only three can stand. That’s Mmd,pf and upnd.
Its so sad that some candidates on towards the Elections . People like the General
I wholly agree with #1. Without speculating as to who is behind this, it does seem that there’s a lot of anxiety in some of the big party’s. This election in my view is wide open with no clear indication as to who is likely to win. I wonder how some of these small party presidents think, it would be more wise for them to stand as MP so that they could take their fight for development to parliament. Â
Ki bikuba musalaka
zambians by now should know what is good for them and the upcoming children. We can not replace an old tyre with another old finished one.. the journey becomes hectic! HH is best.
Only a Tonga tribalist party, member like you believes HH can win. Not in this life time
Seventh day adventist, you ALWAYS TALK tribalism against tongas and HH and any supporter. Has it ever occurred to you HH has Luvale, Tumbuka, Lozi bemba and other supportser? That said, I have no doubt in my mind you are a bemba tribalist who preaches Bemba Supremacy- Ububi nga kolwe. Amunya mafi.
Anything not Bemba is tribal ai?you make Sata loose you dull man.
replacing an old tyre with another old finished tyre is not change.. It is straight forward! there is no need of having migraine headaches.Vote HHHH
These are mere speculations. No 17 presidential candidates will file nominations. Wait for the day of filling nominations. I expect less than 5 presidential candidates.
All of a sudden these parties have pitched up overnight, from nowhere they can raise ZMK10M, even Miyanda who has been on the scene for a while, suddenly SPLASHING OUT – this is all VJ, they have been paid the Filing fees + plus additional for the service, WELL WHO WOULD REFUSE???? They are all playing DONCHI KUBEBA!!! As we now all know, we shouldn’t even bother listen to them, or waste our votes on them!! What PF SHOULD NOW BE DOING IS MAKING SURE THERE ARE NO SIMILAR SYMBOLS!
This is also to confuse ECZ, as SUPPORTERS ON THE DAY, WILL BE RECYCLED FOR THE NEXT DAY – THEY STILL COULD HAVE FILED IN THE SAME TIME PERIOD, ALL THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE WAS SEPARATE THE CANDIDATES, by staggering their filing times, if they were late, would be considered as not serious – & left out!
Its democracy! what kind of UNZA don are you ba Ng’oma? UNZA has really gone to the Dogs or it is the Dogs that have come to UNZA.
@8, UNZA is not Dr Ngo’ma and Dr Ng’oma is not UNZA. In every society there are as many different opinions as there are human beings. That is why some people even belong to the 90 days more money in your pockets PF as a serious party, and of course the no-ballot “national convention” of a certain party!
Thats the essence of democracy Dr Ngoma.
If you have an ego and ZMK10 M to spend,why not go for it?
The voters will decide who wins and a minority government will be forced to make only good laws.
I agree with No. 8 – it’s democracy, stupid. You don’t just enter an election only if you are confident of winning, but to be a part of the democratic process and to influence the debate. Any UNZA “don” should know that. Yes, the multiplicity of parties will split the vote making it more difficult to unseat the incumbent, but with 12 (or is it 17?) opposition parties vying for the presidency, I see this more as a sign for the health of our democracy that so many people with divergent views are willing and able to participate. With any luck, the best thing that may come from this election is that PF will lose so badly they will be utterly discredited and fall away so that other more able parties (…with at least one credible policy) can start to emerge.
Hi Dr. Alex N’goma how are doing mwana and the kids plus your lovely wife Eddie. I agree with you but it appears some are sponsored just to spoil the event. The main contenders are RB. Sata and HH. Look at characters like Gen Miyanda always doing it alone. Where is the secretariat for Heritage Party and its Executive. Even HH I dont see him winning but he is strongly building up for 2016 if he is not be witched by MMD and William Banda. I see MMD & RB retaining power coz they have put a formidable team. Its unfortunate that PF was hoping to cash in on MP defecting from MMD but the opposite happened and this has given hell to PF. On this score RB’s strategy worked well.
It is not always true that when you defect then winning is a must. One good example is Mama Chitika defected to BY and lost teribly in 1996. Even this time she may will loose unless otherwise.
tWhat is the done suggesting, that they restrict who participates? This is the essence of democracy and a civilised nation. That’s why we are advocating for clean politics based on sound economic policies and vibrant ideologies not personal attacks and misguided philosophies. We have now reached the boiling point of the champaigns, can we see the creative obamas offering alternative ideals to the current mmd’s and extrapolate, expunge and offer detailed analysis based on modern economic emancipation and prodigy so that we the electorates can have a variety of choices. Time to yap and cry foul is over, its time for action and only the most prepared will win. Thank you.
It is difficult to comprehend Dr. Ngoma analysis. Concepts of democracy requires that people are free to be associated with a party of their choice. Dr. Ngoma’s real cause for agony is that quarrels mushrooming among the rank and file of PF will force most of its members to change camp and drift to UPND, Heritege Party or MMD. In this regard it is PF’s undemocratic mode of adopting its MPs that will reduce the number of votes that would have accrewed to Sata. Bad luck Ba Ngoma, just try to link up with your brother Prof. Chirwa for consolation.
Bwana Mkubwa, I couldn’t agree more.
I actually think it’s a good thing that so many are engaged in discourse or standing up for the country. It shows we are maturing as a democracy.
With the PF dying a nature death following these elections Zambia will need another party to emerge to ensure we do not go back to one party politics ever again.
That could well be UPND.
Bakulu
Just look at the number of players on the political stage will some of these add value to our growing democracy? Yes everone has his democratic right to bring to any political party of his choice. I dont want to mention many names. Do you think some of these chaps have been sponsored just to make noise or just to be heard. A good example the Churches have grown in Zambia after it was declared a Christain nation. What do we see today pastors of all colors and scandals of all sorts. People are being made to believe that with prayer one can instantly become rich or healed of this and ailment. In fact we have more sin being committed in the name of serving God. I had my way we should have at least 3-4 formidable politcial parties coz some parties are a one man team plus with wife or
I am afraid those are the fruits of democracy and the freedoms that come with it. We can debate all the negative tenets until the cows come home (as my dad would say), but it’s better to be free. I know there is a bit of permissiveness, which always irks those who consider themselves arbiters of morality, but for me it is better to have all those churches and spoiler presidential aspirants. Life is a learning game and my guess is that in 20 years time Zambia may be back two major parties as you see in other African countries like Kenya, for example.
While Democracy requires free participation in the political dispension of the country, 17 presidential candidates is just too big a number for our country. It is clear that most of these are really out there to spoil the votes. Surely, people like Hon. Miyanda, he only comes on the scene during elections time and even his performance is negligable. He does not hold campaign rallies and his village concept is a fallacy. It’s better to 2 or 3 strong opposition parties competing amongst each other for power.
Just allow them to fill nomination papers and pay ECZ for that. 2. Let them all go for tv interface debate and get opinion poll from 3 best scorers. Those three to contest presidental election. At the end the losers will be hand in and with the other part hence producing good results out of merging votes :)
…At the end lossers will be hand in hand with other part(s) hence..
There is no need to insult or attack Dr. Ngoma.He was merely expressing his views with a very straight mind.People should not worry about 17 presidential candidates,17 is just a number,the serious ones are already known.Some are joining the race to just remain on record that they at one time contested the presidency.Some are doing it out of bitterness or jealous so as to disadvantage others by splitting the votes.Some will not even contest,they will pull out.What they want is recognition by some desperate politicians hoping to form political pacts thereby prolonging their political life span.Some will call for some PRESS CONFERENCES where they will claim they are pulling out as they ha decided to support Mr ABC So do not worry,the number of presidential candidates will drastically reduce.
I ALSO THINK 17 IS TOO MUCH AND MOST OF THE CANDIDATES ARE CLOWNS BUT FOR HH, RB, SATA. THOUGH HH MIGHT JUST BE CHECKING HIS POPULARITY FOR ITS SHROUDED IN MYSTERY.
I think there could be some candidates who are ‘sponsored’ but there is no point potificating over it. firstly, it does not sound like its illegal, therefore parties are free to use it as a strategy. Secondly, if the sponsored candidates qualify to stand on their own right, then there is nothing you can do about it, it remains their right to stand …yeah, even when they know fully that they will wont win. Some people can just stand to beef up their CV and thats perfectly fine too, its legal!
Right #3 let some of them consider standing as MP’s too except for RB and MCS who should seriously consider retiring from active politics after this election! The other aspirants need to remember the bashing Mazoka (MHSRIP) got despite his popularity that he lacked experience of having served at any level in national governance! HH has also received a dose of this line of attack! Let them serve in parliament and we will get to gauge them from there as they aspire for plot one! BY, Magande and Milupi have been there or have I forgotten any other?
:x
In advanced democracies, as many as 30 candidates stand for election. In the UK, there is a party – Loony Party – made up of clowns, which always stands but no one complains. It’s their right. So let as many parties as possible stand in Zambia …
Surely, what analysis does Dr. Ngoma bring here? He says the number of Presidential contestants will spoil the polls. What is his recommended number? How will he arrive at limiting the numbers? It has been the trend of a lot of bloggers here to advocate ‘democratic principles, fair play, the rule of law and an impartial electrol commission’. Yet, here is an ‘analysis’ by a ‘professional’ and in tandem with a good number of some bloggers views, that clearly determines that 17 Presidential candidates is too many. How many should there be and on what basis do you arrive at that suggested number? If you support multi-partyism, why would you question the right of whatever legitimately formed party to present candidates for the elections? What hypocrisy!! Dr.Ngoma’s is no analysis!!