Seven Civil Society Organisations have called on the Electoral Commissions of Zambia (ECZ) to postpone the Livingstone and Mpongwe by-elections scheduled for tomorrow to another date saying the current atmosphere is not conducive for holding elections.
The seven organisations namely; Zambia Center for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID), Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP), Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), Southern African center for Constructive, Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) Operation Young Vote (OYV) said this in a statement made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today.
The organisations stated that Section 28, the Electoral Act, No. 12 gives the ECZ power to defer elections to another date if the atmosphere is not conducive for holding peaceful, free and fair elections.
They further said there was no doubt that the Mpongwe and Livingstone by elections will not be peaceful as the political atmosphere in the two districts is still tense.
The organisations said should the by-elections go ahead; there will be a low turn up of voters due to fear of harassment, leading to the constituencies having Members of Parliament elected by a number of the electorate.
They stated that both in Livingstone and Mpongwe, the electoral code of conduct was breached and alleged that police exhibited a laisez -faire attitude through the whole ordeal.
The Organizations said it is sad that police have continued to be reactive in the face of electoral violence rather than being proactive.
The Seven Organisations have since called for the immediate resignation of Dr. Solomon Jere as Deputy Inspector General of Police, in order to restore public confidence in the law enforcement body.
ZANIS
What a waste of money with these by elections!
Sad
Thanks
Talking sense Mushota we cant afford these bye elections. Another bye election is looming with the appointment of yet another UPND MP as deputy minister today.
Ba Mushota; namukula bane. At least your sentiments are making sense … what exposure can do to people. Oh … you said “thanks” at the end, didn’t you? …YOU ARE WELCOME!
mwaiche mushota, walwupwa? or single? hey give me your nkufune amolu
And all this was caused by someone who is supposed to be a shepherd and leader of God’s flock. No wonder hell has received a lot of so God men of God who should have known better. God have mercy on this nation of Zambia.
was this forseen??did u know that pipo would lose lives?looking or pipo to blame doesnt solve anything,is he the one who told the cadres to kill each other?
@KK
Men of principle do not jump ship at the slightest provocation. It is like a marriage, you hang on in there and do everything within your powers to iron out any problems. We should also not forget that the money spent on these bye-elections is paid for by the hard working ordinary citizens of Zambia.
sHAKA MY dear take a walk get some air,u seem too frustrated to reason,IF I DINT KNOW BETTER I WOULD THINK ITS PERSONAL
The pope resigned too re you aware?????????
from the words of one RB, “Ni Ndalama za Nyoko!”
Thought that was GBM who said, “te ndalama sha noko!”
Dear Mr Sata just step down. It is the most honourable thing for you to do. The office is too big for you. You have failed to grow into the office. Your language and actions speak of someone who is still trapped into been the leader of the PF and not the NATION. Even the Police think that your PF is above the laws and constitution of the Zambia. Your cadres have been fanning violence against the opposition but they are not allowed to arrest them. Today a village has been torched by PF cadres in Mpongwe but the Police are refusing to act because they have not been ‘instructed’ to do so by higher authorities presumably yourself! I gather Chitulika Village is in need of a new headman. There’s an opening for you!
You paid ANC/UPND blogger from ZWD,why do you want Sata to resign.One of your plans is to bring anarch in the nation so as to use it as a tool to get into power.Just ask your HH,(a high ranking free manson,satanist,sadist ) to resign and everything will normalise.Paying you to spend time on internate insulting Sata wont do,it is already failing.Going to the international communit wont do also,govt will always be given a hearing and your lies will be exposed.
Sata is the President of Zambia. And every Zambian has the RIGHT to hold an opinion about his competence, suitability for the Presidency and/or the lack of it. If calling Sata a failed President who should step down is an insult… then I am sorry there’s nothing I can do about it! Sata is a Politician and as long he continues to avail himself for and occupy public office he is fair game for comment be it flattering or otherwise. We are a Republic and NOT an absolute monarchy!
president sata has serious deficiencies in his head.
On a serious note, i do agree with the CSO’s call for by-elections to be postponed. The atmosphere is not conducive. As a nation we need to set aside our political differences and address the cause of this violence that is now taking lives of our able men and women. Its not healthy and as a nation we should condemn the vice in the strongest terms.
Don’t just postpone but get rid of by elections altogether so Sata can do some real work.All he does is create uneccesary by elections by poaching ba opposition members and swelling cabinet to dangerous levels.Save the poor taxpayer from this wastefulness.
I agree with you @Enka Rasha. Isn’t there a mechanism to challenge the president on all these illegal oppointments and creation of ungazetted positions. Has the president got the mandate to create deputy ministerial positions at the throw of a hat? One would have thought Cabinet office would oppose these appointments as the budget did not include all these new appointments. This is the reason Sata has filled the govt with his relatives as this way no one will oppose all these retrogressive appointments. Mr Chikwanda reign in your relation for the good of the country. Remember that, “I was just carrying out orders” is not an acceptable excuse at law when the laws give guidnace to what needs to be done.
Misplaced priorities. As Ali Mazrui would have said and I quote “People in the developing World are flying to the moon and yet people in Africa still have problems getting to their villages”. Politics of the belly rules and meanwhile the Kwacha is fast depreciating in value.
The elections have to go ahead. why wasting time and Money? Let the killing UPND be warned that this time around no one will allow their childishness. Killing people will no usher UPND into state house.
Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.
The point is, even if Jere resigns, the next office bearer would play to the tune. the key is the dispensation of democracy of the PF in all attributes
PF thugs are really Persuasive finally mission Accomplished.
How can we Trust the police if the Car’s are not even written on Them….???
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in the seven CSO, you should aim to sort out this mess before more lives are lost and not in half heated manner by holding press conferences. What you are seeing is just a tip of the Icebgerg. The whole issue in my view is caused by the high levels of intolerence we are experiencing from both the opposition and the ruling party. Regionalism and triablism are being promoted by certain quarters of our political spectrum to further their ends. This is being perpetuated by some sections of the media who have made it a primary objective to insult and incite violence. Sit them down as you did in 1990/91 and Iron out all these differences. Iam sure some common ground can be reached for the good of Zambia.
MY BROTHER YOU ARE VERY RIGHT. POSTPONEMENT OF THE BYE ELECTION WILL IF ANYTHING BRING ABOUT MORE CHAOS. THIS VIOLENCE OCCURED BECAUSE ONE PARTY FEELS AND PROBABLY KNOWS THAT THEY WILL LOSE THE SEAT. SO AS THE BEMBAS SAY “UKUFILILA MU NSENGA” THEY RESORTED TO VIOLENCE TO DISRUPT EVERYTHING. THEIR LOSS WILL IF ANYTHING NOT END WITH THE POSTPONEMENT. AGAIN THEY WILL STILL LOSE. SO IF PEOPLE CAN SIT DOWN AND RESOLVE THEIR DIFFERENCES, MAYBE WE CAN HAVE A BETTER FUTURE. BUT AS LONG AS THIS REGIONALISM CONTINUES TO HOVER OVER OUR POLITICAL ARTIES, WE ARE IN FOR CHAOS.
I agree. Good suggestion. Moreover, a postponement will teach all political parties a lesson not to turn our nation into a war zone.
If you are going to kill each other, please don’t do it in Zambia, you can do it somewhere else.
It is a pity that there seems to be no level-headedness in all parties, ruling and opposition alike. All political party leaders do have control over their cadres. It is a lack of will on both sides. No one party can blame the other. They are all hypocrites and a cancer to our people. HH is equally arrogant and hot headed. He promised us Mapatizya formula. We all know what that is. Political violence during elections did not start when PF got into power. It started under MMD. This is not about apportioning blame. It is simply about putting tings in to their perspective if we are to find lasting solutions. Hate speeches will just brew more trouble. LOOKING AT THE POSTINGS HERE, IT IS OBVIOUS THAT IF WE WERE TO ALL SIT IN THE SAME ROOM, THERE WOULD BE VIOLENCE.
Postponing the elections to prevent violence is a good idea. One would also hope that it will sober those who want the office up. No one will get into office without proper behaviour by their party supporters. No PF, no UPND, no MMD, no UNIP… Although, at this point, the most troublesome ones are UPND and PF.
IF YOU POSTPONE THE ELECTIONS, UPND WILL KILL MORE PEOPLE.
what is lasez-faire? Anyway we go ahead, whether pipo come or not whoever gets majority vote goes to parliament
FACT: UPND WILL LOSE THE SEAT TO PF.
FACT: THEN THEY WILL APPEAL AGAINST THE PF VICTORY CITING VIOLENCE AS THE CAUSE.
FACT: BUT THIS VIOLENCE IS CAUSED OR UNLEASHED BY THEM (UPND) ONTO PF.
QUESTION: DOES ANYONE DISPUTE MY ACCOUNT OF EVENTS?
UPND be very careful of the traps being set before you, retaliation in the name of self defense is not the solution they will implicate you with a tag of violence. No one will know the difference between who is violent between PF and UPND. An example is Uhuru and Ruto of Kenya facing trial at the Hague .Uhuru is accused of retaliation. It seems you are being provoked by strategy and they may use this as one of the defenses for the commonwealth.
Zambia needs serious prayers. Christians it is time to pray for our nation without ceasing, everything happening in the nation is a reflection of the state of the Church .
Yeah!!! What a waste of resources, if have had so much of these by elections which have never made a changes, people still suffer. Seen lot of these guys in a van in monkey uniforms who have been always been used and abused by the ruling party. By elections should only be accepted when the serving MP is dead. All these guys changing parties are job seekers, a pity the head of state has a hand in recruiting these political prostitu……… One in his right mind wonders when all the changes promised during erection time have ever been looked into, or was it arresting opposition members? Need someone in her or his right mind to tell what developments have taken place in Zed.
Deployment of 300 police officers has still failed to control the violence, it sounds a bit toothless.
The problem with the leaders of these CSO’s is that they get carried away with emotions. If they had sat down and asked themselves whether it was conducive to hold rallies in Livingstone in the past last days, they would have agreed with Jere. Now that someone has been killed, they are trying to do some damage control to their credibility since they were very vocal against Jere . Their sponsors are watching and wondering how they got it so wrong!!
We told u that u are putting ichipuba into statehouse u insulted us
I THOUGHT LIVINGSTONE IS BEING IMPROVED FOR THE COMING UNWTO SUMMIT AND YET NOT. WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO START PREPARING LIVINGSTONE FOR THE UNWTO CONFERENCE IF THEY DID NOT START YET?
Its better ukubika icipuba in the house that satanic man, a vampire always looking for Pf blood. i we Sata just start Mugabe formula, why waist time with these Vampires who doesn’t want peace.