The Electoral Commission of Zambia -ECZ has held a closed door meeting with presidential candidates ahead of Tuesday’s elections.
The meeting which was chaired by ECZ Chairperson Justice Irene Mambilima was held to explain logistical and Administrative procedures that the ECZ has put in place for the elections.
ECZ Public Relations Manager Cris Akufuna says some of the logistical measures the ECZ has put in place aim at ensuring that results from remote areas are received in good time through the use of satellite phones.
Mr Akufuna says with these measures, the ECZ is confident that all the results will be in within 48 hours.
Among the presidential candidates that attended the meeting include, FDD’s Edith Nawakwi, ZED’s Fred Mtesa, NAREP’s Elias Chipimo Junior, UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema, Heritage Party’s Godfrey Miyanda and Michael Sata of the PF.
President Rupiah Banda was represented by Vice president George Kunda while ADD president Charles Milupi was represented by Amos Nakalonga his National secretary.
UNIP president Tilyenji Kaunda did not show up.
[ZNBC]
With copper-rich Zambia’s economy booming, incumbent strong ahead of presidential vote
Courtesy of Washington Post
Since Zambia’s president won a narrow victory over his main rival three years ago, 100,000 jobs have been created and the government has built bridges, airports and hospitals with revenue from a copper boom.
That puts President Rupiah Banda in a strong position ahead of Tuesday’s presidential elections. His main opponent Michael Sata has lost three times previously.
Ten candidates are on the presidential ballot, but only Banda and Sata are considered contenders. Zambia’s 5 million voters also will be choosing 150 members of parliament and more than 1,000 municipal councilors.
which airports? havent seen any!!
Which copper revenue, do we earn anything from copper. yaack another cooked story. Nontheless a foreigner can say what they want and he will never vote in tomorrow’s election where we are voting for – His Excellency Mr Sata – The President of the Republic of Zambia.
swine stop lying or should we say wake up and stop dreaming. how dare you honestly try to mislead people in broad daylight? you are a very sick chap. one hospit?al built with ?a lo?an from china, besides the same hospital does not even h?ave staff and drugs, yet your government is busy buying trucks for campaigns and you call that development, ulishilu swine.
In 2008, when copper prices were lower and concerns about the economy high, then-vice president Banda won a special by-election held after the death of President Levy Mwanawasa, who had suffered a massive stroke. Banda beat Sata by just 35,000 votes.
Banda has presented a four-year infrastructure development program that began this year. He pledges to repair, rebuild or upgrade more than 67,000 kilometers (more than 41,000 miles) of roads. He’s already built more than 100 bridges and 27 hospitals.
“The new roads are here, the schools are here,” said Banda supporter Moses Phiri.
Referring to Sata supporters, Phiri added: “What more do these people want?”
Sata’s campaign has at times appeared desperate. His party had gone to court to try to have Banda disqualified, arguing he was ineligible for re-election because both his parents were allegedly born outside the country.
A judge dismissed the petition on technical grounds last week. Banda, 74, was born before Zambia gained independence in 1964.
Sata and his party then turned to the South African company that printed the ballot papers, claiming it is corrupt and should not have been given the contract. Both the company and the Electoral Commission of Zambia have denied the charges.
The populist Sata has in the past focused on the massive Chinese investment here. But he has toned down his anti-Chinese rhetoric in this campaign.
There’s some anxiety in Zambia about the aftermath of the vote. Sata’s supporters have rioted after previous losses. And while this campaign has been relatively peaceful, violence following recent elections elsewhere in Africa is on some minds here.
National Police Chief Francis Kabonde has ordered extra patrols in volatiles area, and banned street vendors from selling liquor and implements such as shovels and axes that could be used as weapons.
In an address to the nation Sunday, Banda warned those who might be planning violence: “Expect no mercy, expect no favor, expect only the full force of the law to come down on you.”
So far the way the ECZ has handled the electoral process leaves much to be desired.
Their inability to tackle the issue of corruption by UPG has raised a lot of questions on the transparency of the whole process.
Mambilima’s credibility has been severely dented for leaning in the direction of MMD instead of showing independence
How has the UPG corrupting of a director at ECZ affected the process?
So inauguration can take place on friday as anticipated by MMD, this sounds good.
Good to hear! 48hrs, you say, not weeks!!
Within 48 hrs, ECZ will have finished their job. The sworn in President will then take over and sort out all those making noise
viva pf viva sata in zambia we need people like sata to finish coruption in zambia and working hand for people.And we also need power so that every zambian specificaly the youths can be empowered me GQ.
Mambilima you are a disgrace to the women of Zambia. You pretend to have a straight face,but underneath it, you have colluded with UPG/RBish to steal this election. So whatever yapping or barking that you’re performing now is all fools gold!!! My pet dog will probably display some honesty than the crap you claim!! Inspite of all the evidence against UPG, YOU HAVE REMAINED OMINOUSLY MUTE as if you were DUMB!! Enjoy your ill gotten bribes, but your day of reckoning will surely come, you should have asked FTJ!!!!!
#1 those are govt propagandas. Where are the 100,000 jobs been created in the last 3 years. Someone in govt must have given those fake statistics to Washington Post. George Kunda could not give us unemployment statistics cos he felt the govt would be embarrased
Come now. So you are suggesting all the new and old mines that have opened are running without employees?
Give it a rest mate.
Vote wisely bane; its homos vs economists
# 5 U r very ungrateful.VIVA RB VIVA MMD.
Habasimbi I didnt know that u support thieves!!!
#10, You men in PF have yourselves to blame and pliz leave our ister alone. We told you to make the PACT work and it seems reality has now set it.
Which election has our sister stolen, my dear ? Voting is tomorrow and why are you PF men confessing defeat and using some fake reasons to explain it away.
PF is losing tomorrow and the full blame falls on Kabimba and the POST Newspaper for Screwing the UPND-PF pact. Within 48 hours the chickens are coming home to roast and I hope there will be no heart attacks.
Please just don’t cause violence when you lose please use the courts because it is us women and our children who will bear the full brunt of your actions. Please just be civil about it. There is always tomorrow, and you can try again or use courts
“chickens coming home to roast”?..ha ha this is a new idiom..or should we take it literally? ha ha ha
The decision to VOTE for PF and SATA is made.
VOTE PF and SATA!
dream on. am on copperbelt, definately Constable Njoka is losing AGAIN. Poor Finishers have lost too much ground.
dream on. am on copperbelt, definately Constable Njoka is losing AGAIN. Poor Finishers have lost too much ground. jokes njoka it was nice while it lasted.
# 12 U r very rite its homos against economists what can a standard 4 offer the nation and a journalist who is heavily indebted.Zambia Vote wisely VIVA RB VIVA MMD
After this past weekend’s Rally’s by the 3 main contenders, I am now confident that Sata will not, I repeat, Will NOT win this years elections. This is good for Zambia and all serious minded Zambians should celebrate it. Sata is a crook who has been caught doing crooked activities at several airports. He was part of the Most corrupt Kafupi/Satan Regime Zambia has ever seen. He is a thug and dictator who has no understanding of the 21 st century world. Sata has lied to the Zambian people that he has two degrees. He was an informer/Spy for the Colonial Masters before Independence and sent many of our people to Death and to Jail. God will beat him with many stripes. Vote HH, Vote RB or please stay at home.
Can you take him to court for the criminal activities he has done or you are just ranting?
#17 Lets be serious you seem to dwell on lies, the great Leader Zambia has at the moment is Sata u can rant all u want but we have resolved to put Sata in State House come this Friday
Sister Getrude u r indeed a wise woman.# 10 is very foolish and is the dullest ***** i have ever come across.It is good that these pity fools will no longer be making noise after tomoro.VIVA RB chwelachwela chweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
VIVA PF VIVA SATA, upnd has never been genuine and sincere ever since hh took over from the late andy mazoka. it now a tribal political party that can never win a presidential election in zambia for as long as hh leads it. after tomorow please get ride of hh for upnd to gain its cridibilty in zambian politics
Advise to the madame. If your work will make your consious straight with the Zambian and GOD then you will be blessed.But if you are happly participanting in rigging of election even God will look at you as an enermy of humanity.You will remain with a dark cloud in your life and never enjoy your money.
iwe habasimbi stop insulting people just go and vote for your rb while the rest of us vote for pf and sata. you claim you want peacefull elections and yet you busy insulting people. it is thier right to vote for the candidate of their choice. if they want sata it is their choice , you have no right to insult them. viva pf viva mwamukolooooooooooooooooooooooooo
IWE FACT!!
What we need is a credible election not the BULLSHIT PROPAGANDA that you are peddling here.
If elections are rigged, not even the police can stop people power..Gaddafi tried to..where is he today..and who is RB compared to Gaddafi.
Building Schools etc is a normal government function!!! CHI-COLOR !!!!
You are even yapping as if the money used was yours or RBs……
# 13
What is there to be grateful about with MMD and the ECZ in the way the whole eletoral process has been bollixed?
You want me to appreciate deliberate measures that take away from building a viable and sustainable democracy in Zambia?
Sorry I am not with you on the way our country has been intentionally and knowingly mismanaged by MMD for 20years
The CONSTITUTION seriously needs urgent repealing/replacement. At law world wide if a director of ZESCO awards a big contract to his friend or to a company he controls ,that’s corruption!! He needs to declare interest and abstain in the awarding of such a contract. Now why should RB BANDA, an interested party and presidential candidate continues being president ,controlling KEY institutions including the ECZ up to the election day?And you expect a fair result?.if the law of declaring INTEREST was enacted to curb corruption and abuse, why should RB BANDA continue in that office up to now?This is a joke on ECZ,and elections in general.The incumbent president MUST hand over power 5days before elections to GRZ 1 -the CHIEF JUSTICE as he awaits election results.
What is there to be grateful about with MMD government, when all the court cases against it, whether political or not have been lost, more especially industrial relations cases. They don’t want to spend on real issues. This chi government has bought all the Judges. Shame.
I hear Veep Kunda went to the toilet 20 times during the briefing. Whatever it is that man ate, it is eating him from the inside, alila ko mumala, alila ko mulukobo, alilako red lipped snake! Awe sure, it is agony that SOB is going through and most of us are so glad the MMD is out of power tomorrow and we will not be forced to shed any tears, ev en crocodile ones through satatic state funerals help for people who least deserve them. “Akashwa namunungu yani ki kuyomu lata feel wa mukalani”>
#1 FACT, You have no idea what you are talking about, 100 bridges and 27 hospitals?!!!. If 3 hospitals were built in each province, why do we have the money wasting so called mobile hospitals? As for bridges, where in the world have you ever heard of 100 bridges been built in a few months. A lot of technical things are involved before construction commences and this takes time. Washington post is for Americans, who have no idea about Zambia or the rest of the world. If you are so sure of the facts, give me 10 rivers where the bridges have been built in six months.
Lets hope that regardless of the outcome that peace will prevail as there will always be individuals willing to put their country at risk for personal gain.
That was good to meet these anxious people.
I urge all Zambians to vote for the candidate of their choice.
And if your candidate loses, please know that those that supported the other candidate were more than those who supported your candidate.
So please congratulate your colleagues who have won; that is what we mean by democracy – not if I lose then they have rigged if I win then the election free and fair.
that is wrong thinking.
You are not the only Zambian voting, and your candidate is not the only one liked.
Each Zambian likes and their respective candiadade, and the most liked will win.
Waiting for 48 hours is too long. What’s the reason for the long wait if there will be the ‘Use Of Satellite Phones’ ( whatever that means )? The delay in announcing the results is a recipe for all sorts of malpractices and tampering of poll documents. It is very possible to announce verified results within maximum of 24 hours, come on Mrs Mambilima be realistic!
.That’s what she said the last time in 2006. After spending more than $10 million on computers, only to U- turn on the counting day and said she is abandoning the use of computers.She deliberately delayed the announcement of results for almost a week and dubious results started to come in and MMD took the lead. I just hope it won’t happen again, this time it will be a recipe for anarchy.
There r more registerd youths than ever b4 & 90% r 4 SATA, enof fun 4 RB,sory time is up.
Sata makes a very good opposition leader by default. He can never be a Republican President……! Lies, double-tongueness, homo*ual advicacy, fwaka, and insults are prominent marks for Chilufya. Viva RB …….nipankoloko chabe……..!
I am glad all this hot air will soon be over. We’re tied of insults everyday.
Milupi and Banda showed leadership by delegating such a small meeting to young chaps. On the other hand Mr Sata went to mix with his opponents for 2016. Tilyenji was dowright stupit for not attending , or sending a junior.
Where is the PF funeral going to take place? i want to go and go and commiserate. Anyone with the Order of Service, please publish it here on LT or on Watchdog. Cheers
The was meant to read “……go and commiserate..”
# 27 Zambian in Zambia,
I dont think you leave in Zambia, No!
You can argue that if you have three hospitals then you don’t need any more hospitals, that’s a joke!!!
Do you understand the geography of Zambia?
Do you know that each province has a minimum of 5 districts with maximum of 9 districts per province and you say 3 hospitals are enough???
Do you know that some districts such as Mpika are bigger than some countries such Bangladesh???
Doy you know that 5 hospitals are not enough even for districts like Mpika alone??
I would really, really love if we could all debate with knowledge and facts, which is not the case as I clearly see at the moment.
I hope you are not PF, if I accuse you falsely of being PF forgive me, but that is where I find people talking from emotions.
The question he asked was which 27 extra hospitals have been built in the last 3 years, and if you divide 27 hospitals by 9 Provinces, it gives you 3 Hospitals per Province, and of course in addition to already existing ones.
And your argument that hospitals are built considering the geographical size of an area is exhibiting ignorance of the highest order. A decision to built a health facility is based on the population of an area of regard.
And if you’re a well meaning Zambian, you can agree with him and I that mobile Hospitals are a liability to the Zambian health sector.
And it is true that there are no 100 bridges built in Zambia
G.K. Patriot. At least 26/27 hospitals have been built by GRZ in the recent past. This information is available from the CSO and the Ministry of Health. Why do you to enter into an argument over a simple fact? Do your research and then come back with an enlightened argument. I hope you are just being naughty and disingenuous and not inept. God forbid.
#32 FUSEKI.
Most youths, in fact all normal youths dont like violence.
So you will have more youths going for RB and HH to the amazement of SATA and the Sataists.
In fact the very fact that youths have registered makes it more likely that RB will carry the day.
Who said all youths are confused – is it not just the few Kaponyas who make the loudest noise on the street??
Avoide false hopes and you will leave longer, my friend.
Hello Zambians:When folding the ballot paper fold it the other side and put it in the box.Why am i saying so,when you look at the candidates at the ballot paper; Rupiah is on top and Sata is bottom.So when marking an X with the ECZ pen and folding it, it is transferred to Banda who is on top since the ink is still wet.Please fold it the other side.
This is not about staying over night it just after folding the ballot paper. Try it if u want 2moro
#39 MP ,
Even those voting for RB please take his advice.
Because when you vote for RB the ink will go to SATA when you folder.
So his adivice works both ways.
Anyway never mind, he is just cracking a joke because the ink used is instant drying; by the time you lift the marker up the mark will have dried like stone already.
He is just imagining how the pen works, so treat it as a joke (assuming it was said with full understanding of the material used when marking).
SATA IS THE NXT PRESIDENT. THIS IS A PROPHECY)))))
ELEVEN HOURS (11) more to go.GOD help us to choose a leader,wthout bloodshed for the betterment of the next generaton.Amen.
MORE RIGGERS WILL BE ARRESTED AND WILL BE CONFESSING. WATCH THE SPACE.
The last person we want in state house is Sata. Please vote wisely. 20HH
Mambilima, you are very useless. Because of you, this country is far from being developed. I we we mwanakashi you have brought misery in this country because of your evil acts
At last I can say this. The people who vote are not bloggers; most of them dont even know about Lusaka Times or the intenet! They are on the streets selling catapillars. If we go by their choice, Sata is the President. However, should they refuse to vote, RB will be president. So bloggers, just wait for real Zambians to cast their votes.
intelligence offficers, army and police are the poorest in the country and they are good in defending people who them make their status to be poor. continue guys. sometimes being poor is as good has no brain
Imwe ba vuvuzela ba the out going party MMD if it was sata who did not attend that meeting by this time ama comments nga ni 1000 by this time and ZNBC,Lifwekelo and Chifire they would have issued negative statements.MMD you are the losers this time 20 years you still want more even in America its like that…..SEE YOU IN 2016!!!!!
The Titasatanic is sinking tumoro
Tot begin with all MMD supporters are either connected to this corrupt government or hold public office… How cam you honestly believe the MMD have developed our poor country Zambia, which still has poverty levels of 64%? MMD has ruled for 20yrs and still all we’ve seen is not even attempted development. They blind you with shopping complexes, cause they cannot really qualify to be termed as malls, and you say there is development in Zambia! You live in a false reality, the real reality is when you drive out of Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe and Livingstone… What you see only 20kms outside where you have village huts and you see poverty right outside our so called cities!! The roads leave much to be desired, 75% of the population are unemployed, the 64% live off less than $2 per day!
Its today.Best wishes Zambia.
I never cease to get amazed how we human beings are so selfish…all these things we go through really if thought through will only point to the EGO THING in us. Everything else we so much fight for end up being useless and not worth the stress we undergo fighting for them..Good Luck Zambia. Whoever wins this election let it be business as usual. I wished each one could share with everyone else what they worked and stressed for…what a better place this world could be! Peace for all.
This election is btwen Sata and RB. HH supporter consider your vote a spoiled vote. HH vote wont count. No offence to HH suppoters.like they say love is blind…How many years with MMD now??? 20 plus… that is a lot…. We need change..even companies CEO are effective at most for only 5 yrs.. All factors considered (peace & stability, natural resources, human capital), Zambia is the least developed nation in Africa.
The problem is that, with PF, we won’t be changing anything. It won’t be fresh blood. About 98% of the guys in PF were once in MMD. Not even one of them left MMD based on principles but it is just that they could not have their way. Sata was very willing to bend the constitution on third term with hope either he would be second man if Chiluba succeeded or he would be handpicked should things go wrong. Unfortunately, he got neither so he left. The same is of Guy Scott, Wynter Kabimba, Mike Mulongoti, Given Lubinda. It is very naive to think that bringing in PF would bring much of a difference. All these people are career politicians looking for jobs.
Zambia has a very difficult choice this election.
The good thing is that, the zambian pipo are able to read in between the lines and know the differnce between right and wrong, as in evil and good. Vote wisely guys, vote without fear or favor!! vote right and you will be blessed. let your conscious sations peak to you, if you have a working conscious you will do the right thing, not only for you but for generations to come.
#42 you are right………on another note all whose who are saying Sata is standard 4 he is homo with time you will face time to apologise after he does a good job….. and the idea that an intellectual should be the only President is a very narrow way of thinking you are making all ordinary Zambia who have not gone to school because of poverty to think they are cursed or nothing and running a country is not for them but privileged ones…..shame of you MMD chap and you want to be in office…VIVA PF poor people will speak
It’s today! Woke up today with a sense of excitement knowing my fellow Zambian’s will conduct yet another successful election.
wow am just from voting and it was calm,ba fine naba fact dream on,reality is here!! elo mukasebana.
can someone explain to me the difference between a job and work?100,000 jobs ba fact explain wheather there are labourers in chinese mines,define a job and work.
What is VJ doing. He is under ground rigging. watch the space
While counting is still going im concerned in most cases this is the Period were other thought comes in of those who may be known as riggers. The Electoral commission of zambia must not allow thieves nor bribes but should prove excellence in their work.
WHERE ARE THE TONGAS WITH THEIR HH CRAP?