Friday, March 29, 2024

Carter Center Expresses Deep Concern about Zambia’s 2016 Electoral Process and Democratic Institutions

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Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibin casting his Ballot during voting at UNZA polling station in Lusaka yesterday, 11-08-2016.Picture by Ennie Kishiki/Zanis.
The Carter Center is deeply concerned about key aspects of the 2016 Zambian electoral process in both the pre- and post-electoral period, especially the failure of Zambia’s institutions to provide a level playing field prior to election day and adequate due process to ensure a fair hearing and effective remedy for electoral petitions filed following the polls. Unfortunately, this represents a significant step backward for Zambia.

The Center’s limited election mission released a statement today highlighting some of its concerns. While it is difficult to quantify the precise impact of the flaws in the pre- and post-election periods, cumulatively these problems seriously undermine the integrity of Zambia’s electoral process and weaken public confidence in the country’s democratic institutions.

Overall, the 2016 elections represent a troubling departure from Zambia’s recent history of democratic governance. In this highly polarized and divisive environment, it is incumbent upon Zambia’s authorities and political leaders from all parties to play a constructive role to strengthen the country’s democratic institutions, lessen tensions, address divisions, and prevent post-electoral violence.

Pre-election Period and Election Day

The Center’s preliminary statement following the Aug. 11 elections noted that the pre-election campaign period was marred by the lack of a level playing field, including harassment of private media, the abuse of office by government ministers, and the application of the Public Order Act in ways that appeared to disadvantage the main opposition party, the United Party for National Development. The political and electoral environment was also characterized by heightened tensions between the ruling Patriotic Front and the opposition, and some instances of localized violence.

While the pre-election environment was significantly flawed, both Zambian citizen observers and multiple international observation missions reported that voting and counting processes were largely successful, with only relatively minor problems. Following an extended tabulation process, the Electoral Commission of Zambia announced the final results of the polls, which indicated that the ruling PF party candidate, President Edgar Lungu, had been elected with 50.35 percent of valid votes cast. His main competitor, Hakainde Hichilema, received 47.63 percent of the votes. Lungu’s vote total narrowly avoided a runoff election, which would have been required had no candidate received more than 50 percent of the valid votes. President Lungu was inaugurated on Sept. 13.

While the election commission inadequately managed public expectations regarding the vote tabulation, verification, and declaration processes, a parallel vote tabulation conducted by domestic observer Christian Churches Monitoring Group broadly affirmed that the official results were within a statistically credible range.

Post-election Petitions and Constitutional Court Decisions

Following the polls, the UPND lodged a petition with the newly formed Constitutional Court challenging the outcome of the presidential election. Although Zambia’s constitution requires the court to hear electoral petitions within 14 days of its filing, it is silent as to the timeframe in which the court is required to issue a ruling. The court failed to hear evidence on the merits of the petition and to rule on the validity of the election.

Much of the court’s deliberations were conducted in chambers, closed to the public. On Aug. 30, the court said that its calendar would be extended by five days, concluding on Sept. 8. However, it later reversed its position and required both sides to present their cases on Sept. 2, or calendar day 14. Opposition lawyers argued that there was insufficient time and withdrew from the case. The full court then stated that four additional days would be provided, two each for the sides to argue the merits. In a surprise ruling when it reconvened on Sept. 5, the court stated that its jurisdiction had ended at midnight on calendar day 14, and dismissed the UPND petition without hearing the case on its merits. The vote was three-two.

The end result of this decision is that the legal and judicial processes surrounding the presidential petitions failed to meet Zambia’s national and international obligations under the Zambian constitution, the African Charter for Human and People’s Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to ensure due process, a fair hearing, and effective legal remedy.

On July 19, the Center deployed a limited election observation mission, focusing on the political and electoral environment of the campaign period; the legal framework; and electoral dispute-resolution mechanisms. The mission assessed the process based on Zambia’s national legal framework and international obligations for genuine democratic elections. The Center released its preliminary statement on Aug. 13. A final report will be released three months following the elections.

The Carter Center conducts election observation in accordance with the Declaration of Principles of International Election Observation and Code of Conduct for International Election Observation adopted at the United Nations in 2005.

76 COMMENTS

  1. Edgar Lungu will be the MOST CURSED President in the History of Zambia for stealing HH’s victory. I curse the day he was born. I curse the womb that carried him, I also curse the breast that fed him with milk. May his stolen term be the most difficult since he was born. This will be his most hectic and tarburant life since he was born. May his family be cursed as well, including all those that support him.

    • @ 1 Hambote, Keep your hatred to yourselves learn to mourn with dignity over the next 5 years. Hate and envy are cancerous to your mind and body. You are hallucinating under forces of unfamiliar spirits.

    • It’s just like the opinion we had in the historic 2000 Bush-Al Gore electoral tag. The center is yet to learn our democracy, values and demographics of voters in Zambia. We have progressive nationalists (for unity) Vs. Regionalists(driven by sectarian causes). Nationalists have trounced regionalism fundamentalists.

    • I bind that Beelzebub spirit that is hovering over you. In Jesus’s name I pray for your healing and soothing. May the Lord cover you and your family, plus the whole of Zambia and it’s citizenry. In Jesus’s name Amen.

    • Carter centre has shared it’s opinion on the elections from their point of view.

      These guys are international monitors. I am sure after next month they will shift to Washington to monitor Donald Trump and Clinton

      The will publish the results of the coming November poles, and we will all know whether they will have been free and fair or not.

      Then all the doubting Thomases will know that these Carter guys mean business.

      Most of the doubting Thomases do doubt because they think that these Carter guys only monitored third world needy countries.

      But once they show them that they also monitor USA, Canada, united kingdom, Germany, France, etc. the doubting Thomases will realise that they had misunderstood these guys.

    • Carter Center should talk to Donald Trump before looking at the speck in Zambia’s eye. Bye Jimmy, how old is he now, 100?

    • Well if you took time to read the whole article, The Carter Center is not disputing the results of the elections. HH lost at the ballot according to the article! So, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised that Jimmy Carter called to congratulate ECL. Bear in mind also that 34% of HH votes came from his 3 strong holds.
      Further more, both parties perpetuated violence but because PF is the ruling party, they are held responsible!

    • These issue are not going to be there next time around. As Zambian “Investor” we will make sure that the next polls are conducted with electronic terminals so that results are transmitted in real time similar to what happens in the western world.

      Dudumwezi is the more reason we should institute this and utilize state of art technologies so that the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise develop more faith in the system. Each polling station will still have a Returning Officer to confirm the votes.

      You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time ~ Abraham Lincoln

    • These issue are not going to be there next time around. As Zambian “Investors” we will make sure that the next polls are conducted with electronic terminals so that results are transmitted in real time similar to what happens in the western world.

      Dudumwezi is the more reason we should institute this and utilize state of art technologies so that the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise develop more faith in the system. Each polling station will still have a Returning Officer to confirm the votes.

      You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time ~ Abraham Lincoln

    • This doesn’t sound like something the reputable Carter Center would produce. The analysis appears unofficial and incomplete. Maybe it is just LT summarizing for them. I remain skeptical!

    • Others will also curse yo leader for stealing Lungus’s votes in Dundumwezi. They will also I curse the day he was born; curse the womb that carried him, also curse the breast that fed him with milk. wish his stolen term to continue leading the lost part the most difficult since he was born. This will be his most hectic and tarburant life since he was born; his family will be cursed as well, including all those that support him including you.

    • Others will also curse yo leader for stealing Lungus’s votes in Dundumwezi. They will also I curse the day he was born; curse the womb that carried him, also curse the breast that fed him with milk. wish his stolen term to continue leading the lost part the most difficult since he was born. This will be his most hectic and tarburant life since he was born; his family will be cursed as well, including all those that support him including you.

    • The biggest blunder PF made was to deny UPND a fair hearing. Had they allowed UPND to be heard, they could’ve retained some respect both locally and internationally. But now they come across as destroyers of democracy and the rule of law. By denying the opposition a hearing, they appeared like they were scared of the truth. More like they knew that once the evidence is presented, it would be game over—they would lose the case. So, they chose to bulldoze their way through the whole thing, including, most likely, influencing the 3 judges of the ConCourt, and bullishly declare themselves winners at the expense of the opposition. At least that’s the perception any independent observer would get. Maybe that bullying shenanigans may have worked some 30 years ago, but today the world…

    • (Continued)… has changed. You can’t just do stuff like that and think the world will just smile at you, look away and pretend that all is fine. No way. Thus, this sad saga shall remain a blot, not only on the judicial system in Zambia, but on PF as well, and the history of our nation. HH , UPND and over a million Zambians who had voted for them may appear to have lost out by being deprived of their victory( assuming that they had watertight evidence), but in the end they’ll always be regarded as the true winners of this election. All because they were denied justice, and their constitutional right to be heard in a court of law.

    • @ B.R. MUMBA & Yambayamba. it seems you are still in denial about PF’s election fraud. The report is genuine, it’s there on their official website.

      wwwDOTcartercenterDOTorg/peace/democracy/press-releasesDOThtml , replace DOT with .

      Stop hero-worshiping LUNGU, like the way a NORTH-KOREAN worships KIM-UN-JONG. Is LUNGU your god?

  2. In a burgeoning democracy as ours where diversity thrives unabated, expression of opinion is a healthy and cordially acceptable. The center is just expressing its opinion.

    • Senior citizen

      You were the one dancing about jimmy carter congratulating lungu in an alleged phone call , was that a lie ?

    • @senile citizen

      Theft of a vote is poking into God’s eye. Using judiciary hired assassin’s like mulenga mungeni and mwewa to major technicalities over merits is spitting in God’s face.

      This faith, I hold sure. An election stolen cries out like Abel’s blood and won’t rest till vengeance and retribution exacted. Live scared my compatriots in Lungu PF.

  3. I wonder if this is coming from the carter center. If 14 days is not 14 days then I cannot but undertsnd why Jimmy Carter was one term president. He associates himself with losers and bad lossers for that matter.

    HH techilema lost and was beaten pants down. UPND cannot claim lossing election on account of unfair coverage by public media. HH wanted free coverage while PF was paying. Riduclous. HH had 300% coverage at Muvi TV while PF had none. UPND thugs were viloent through and through.

    Does the center know that there were aggrivated robbery perpetrated by UPND thugs.
    We have no time for this uselees divisive observation. Sort out Libya, Iraq, Yemen etc. Do fart on us bwana carter

  4. Crooked Chagwa. & his cabal of thugs, (K)aizer, (K)ampyongo, & (K)ambwili, the Zambian wing of Black K.K.K, stole the Election.
    Now impartial people are confirming this K.K.K, constitutional electoral Coup!
    ZAMBIA IS DEAD!!!

  5. A am amused , we were told by PF that jimmy carter had phoned lungu to congratulate him , what happened ? Did jimmy carter change his mind ?

    The kaponyas on this bloggs were jumping up and down ati carter phoned lungu , lies and stealing will be your undoing…..

  6. I am waiting for an International Election Observer who will declare the Zambia 2016 Election free,fair,credible and transparent. With disputed election illegitimate Lungu will be despised by the entire International Community except his mentors,Mugabe and Mu7. Lungu will be hounded for the rest of life for this blatant electoral fraud and theft.

    • Yes lungu and his gang will one day go to jail for electoral fraud.

      His only hope is to completely destroy all judicial insitutions and corrupt zambia like Congo and hope no credible insitutions will ever grow or will take decades to grow.

      His other hope is to cling on to power like mugabe…..

    • Others will also curse yo leader for stealing Lungus’s votes in Dundumwezi. They will also I curse the day he was born; curse the womb that carried him, also curse the breast that fed him with milk. wish his stolen term to continue leading the lost part the most difficult since he was born. This will be his most hectic and tarburant life since he was born; his family will be cursed as well, including all those that support him including you.

  7. The Bible says, your sins will find you out.

    As the sun rises from the east and sets in the west. Since the needle still is true to the north and the moon draws the ebb and flow of the tide.

    The election theft will have a bitter painful humiliating end.

    And if the election win conformed to Article 45 , transitional provisions in 104(3) adhered to, then toast a glass Chagwa.

  8. You know what!
    Carter Centre has shared it’s opinion on the elections from their point of view.

    These guys are international monitors. I am sure after next month they will shift to Washington to monitor Donald Trump and Clinton

    They will publish the results of the coming USA November poles, and we will all know whether they will have been free and fair or not.

    At that time all the doubting Thomases will know that Carter guys mean business.

    Most of the doubting Thomases doubt because they think that these Carter guys only monitored third world needy countries.

    But once they show them that they also monitor USA, Canada, united kingdom, Germany, France, etc. the doubting Thomases will realise that they had misunderstood Carter guys.

  9. ba carter, you mean the cadres christian tabulattion headed by pukuta mwanza, joshua banda, njovu, in disguise? If yes, just know that we have no morally and impartial functional christian organisation in zambia. They are all a banch of embarrancement.they prefer to support evil deeds and portray huge pretences once presentated with brown envelops.

  10. Edgar Lungu has now joined the list of undemocratic pariah leaders like Mugabe ,Al Bashir ,Museveni ,Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.

  11. I am waiting for Senior Citizen to change his name to Silly citizen. You are so annoying, I wish you were a learned person who can carry out a debate without mentioning your so called president. How much are you paid to defend him, well you do your work without thinking.

  12. Please, don’t overlook the key point , which affirms the validity of the results and dispels rumors of rigging:

    While the election commission inadequately managed public expectations regarding the vote tabulation, verification, and declaration processes, a parallel vote tabulation conducted by domestic observer Christian Churches Monitoring Group broadly affirmed that the official results were within a statistically credible range.

    • Oh dear! Mate these are international observers and this is the closest they come to condemning a fraudulent election while being diplomatic. You want them to produce hard evidence of fraud or use your language of insults for you to understand that they’re indeed saying the legitimacy of Lungu as president is into question, that there’s a dark cloud hovering over his alleged election victory? In their country this article here is equivalent to the insults that the likes of ‘father Bwalya’ would spew out to dispute an election.

  13. Just shut up! Time fo so called observers came & is now gone. Zambians have moved on. Only losers will haber bitterness. But that’s normal FO a loser. So tonse utuma observers, shut up & go back were u came from. Yo job is done. Bye bye!!!;

  14. As we told you that Lungu is dull.He has appointed Kingsley Chanda as ZRA commissioner General. Chanda was fired twice at ZRA because of integrity issues.

  15. They were only reading Galu Watcher s in Zambia (Zambia Watch Dog). MUVI TV and other newspapers which are Tonga mouthpieces. Zambians must not be moved by such comments because they have shown to be a peaceful nation and committed to democracy which the Tongas wanted to disrupt by being power hungry! God bless the President and the Republic of Zambai.

  16. The problem with Africans is that they want affirmation from others. It is the disease that makes us lag behind. I will never ever vote for a party and its leader that keeps writing letters to people outside discrediting his own country looking for support when inside his heart he knows that the math does not support him to win an election in Zambia. Many Tonga people on this blog suffer from the same disease – denial.

  17. They have nothing concrete to say because they seem to say voting and counting were well done “…..both Zambian citizen observers and multiple international observation missions reported that voting and counting processes were largely successful, with only relatively minor problems” and so why then do they wish the petition which was supposed to dispute the figures be allowed to proceed beyond even the legal period?

  18. Overall, the 2016 elections represent a troubling departure from Zambia’s recent history of democratic governance! Did you get that? you loud mouthed donkeys. That was key enough to open your eyes, you myopic monkeys

  19. “While the election commission inadequately managed public expectations regarding the vote tabulation, verification, and declaration processes, a parallel vote tabulation conducted by domestic observer Christian Churches Monitoring Group broadly affirmed that the official results were within a statistically credible range.”

    HH was beaten clean with over 100,000 more than double then number Sata beat RB with 32000….it was close but HH bakamugisa

    • AND there is nowhere in the same UN charter where it says the Carter institute shall be the judge of our African/Zambian elections.
      Do they even invite African observers to their elections in America or Europe??? These organizations are created to enforce white supremacist ideals, SUCKS!!!

  20. I read these reports with a pinch of salt, knowing the limitations imposed by a paucity of knowledge of Africa by Amerixans or Europeans or simply pure ego. For example, the Past news saga is a pure tax issue but it becomes a governance issue because the opposition said so or because such media covered the opposition. What the Carter centre will not see is that tax issues aside, this media distorted everything about Zambian politics, including encouraging insurgency, simply for the business intetests of its editor, the interests of one freak Mmembe. How is Carter expected to know that?

  21. When it comes to the petition Carter is better advised to.keep out of our constitutional issues. The UPND simply fuc.ked up their case because of overzealousness, incompetence, lack of evidence, or maybe all three. The 14 days is clear, we did mot even reach the stage where we could question whether the 14 days included the period “to determine the petition” after hearing. We did not even go to the hearing stage the time was up. UPND botched their case because they wanted to play to the gallery. The petition saga had nothing to do with free and fair elections.

  22. Level playing field? Come on Carter, be a good boy, don’t give me that crap! In Zambian elections, if the economy is doing poorly “and there were retrenchments and high prices of mealie meal”, it is enough grounds to change a government. UPND is the only party (since independence or since multi party politics were reintroduced) to fail this easy feat. Reasons are not what uou Carter thinks, we know them better. Have you considered the leadership of UPND?
    1.It was born out of tribalism and today despite the cosmetics you still hear UPND cadres and even leaders talk about “monkeys”, a derogatory reference to bembas.
    2. HH personality is generally is not a people’s man, you can see it from the “I can” syndrome, not “we can”. Then he added a new dimension of campaign lies,…

  23. Contd…
    Then he HH added a new dimension of campaign lies, promising things that he cannot do or cannot be done, and failure to acknowledge the true largely external causes of Zambia’s economic challenges preferring to blame it on Lungu, but all voters know the facts better than HH.
    3. GBM as running mate! Imagine that! Many voters were scared to death of that fat freak. I for one had some sympathies for HH up to 2015 if he could remove the tribal DNA. But come 2016 the choice of GBM freaked me and many others out and we went out to.vote just to prevent this freak from setting his freaky hands on state power. Maybe we account for the 100,000 plus votes that tilted the victory to Edgar Lungu
    4. Actually Carter should consuct a research into.what has happened to HH
    They will come up…

  24. This report is not well balanced.It does not talk about how fellow Zambians who are not Tongas were brutalized and displaced from their homes in southern province.It does not talk about the regional voting which is a danger to this country .Finally,it does not highlight the biased reporting by media houses such as the Post,Muvi etc.

  25. Carter Centre has shared it’s opinion on the elections from their point of view.

    I am sure after next month they will shift to Washington to monitor Donald Trump and Clinton.

    They will publish the results of the coming USA November poles, and we will all know whether they will have been free and fair or not.

    At that time all the doubting Thomases will know that Carter guys mean business.

    Most of the doubting Thomases doubt because they think that these Carter guys only monitor third world NEEDYcountries.

    But once they show that they can also monitor USA, Canada, united kingdom, Germany, France, etc. the doubting Thomases will have trust in the Carter guys.

    Otherwise the doubting Thomases will continue to have a valid reason to mistrust the Carter guys.

  26. I doubt this is from the Cater centre……..who issued this statement? It could just one of those propaganda statements aimed at discrediting our well above average electoral system. Too late though!!

    • @ delbosch

      wwwDOTcartercenterDOTorg/peace/democracy/press-releasesDOThtml , replace DOT with .

      U r still in denial that the elections were not free nor fair

  27. Carter Centre it can’t be wrong only because final ConCourt decision favoured victorious party @ the polls. The initial attempt by ConCourt to circumvent 14 day rule was wrong & unconstitutional in 1st place. The ConCourt came to its senses b4 the 14 days elapsed & then changed again to the unlawful position & then back again to the lawful position. Ultimately the decision of the ConCourt was correct but the way the decision was reached is questionable. Nevertheless both petitioners & respondents were represented by eminent lawyers of their choosing. It is folly to place all blame on ConCourt in those circumstances. Your report also omits post election violence instigated by opposition. It is clear that your report has to be redone with proper context. We voted peacefully & participation…

  28. We voted peacefully & participation in electoral process was free & fair & of whole 3 months campaign period its only 2wice or 3rice that Police permits were not granted due to conflicting party time tables. The opposition had certain private media to themselves exclusively. It may not have been perfect but you can’t honestly say election was undemocratic just because of what opposition is now saying. You need to be objective as you’ve always been without picking sides. That’s what will strengthen democracy in Zambia as opposed to pandering to a section of society that is not the only 1 with opinion about election.

  29. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if the so-called Carter Center report is a document doctored by overzealous UPND types from Watchdog and posted on LT.

  30. President Lungu is a God Fearing Man.This is a different Lungu from the Lungu you were familiar with some few years ago. He is Minister of God. His humbleness and humility is what attracts masses to himself. Let some of our leaders in opposition also show humility and stop using dubious acquired wealth to hoodwink the people of Zambia then things will one day work in their favour. They should have a fear of God first in everything they do and say. My sister Hildah Malama be extremely careful with what you say. Do not bring a curse upon your life and your innocent off springs because of your ignorance in the WORD of God. You cannot curse whom God has not cursed. No body stole votes from anyone the truth is that the opposition just got a clean defeat. The most Important is to do thorough…

  31. This analysis is skewed to wards sentiments of the losing camp, looks like data collection was restricted to targeting opinion gangsters of the upnd mostly in the diaspora. Because of this, I rate the analysis as a nuisance.

  32. WHEN IS HH HANDING OVER LEADERSHIP MANTLE TO ANOTHER PERSON?

    I am interested in knowing the day HH will hand over leadership to another person in our Party. What makes me sick is that this fellow seems to have convinced people he is the best for UPND Presidency. Who tells him so? Time is running out. We need another person at the top if victory is to be ascertained in 2021. BB

  33. One thing is clear. Lungu won even in their opinion though i think this article is non authentic from the foundation. No citing whatsoever hence i consider it null and void.

  34. So of what value is this report?. Of what value is a referee without an punitive powers? I am sure there have been similar reports before but impunity in the conducting of elections grows even bigger in Africa.

  35. @ SHAME, WHO SAID THOSE WORDS IF YOU REMEMBER? WHERE IS THAT PERSON TODAY? MAYBE U ARE NOT AWARE THAT HIS IN PF TODAY. WHY DON’T U PEOPLE CHASE HIM SINCE HE IS A TRIBAL BY NATURE? LET US LEARN TO BE FAIR WITH OTHERS. PREACHING HATE WONT TAKE THIS COUNTRY ANYWHERE. WHEN MUMBI PHIRI, DAVIS CHAMA & CHISHIMBA KAMBWILI USED TRIBAL SENTIMENTS AGAINST SOUTHERNERS, IT WAS THEIR PERSONAL OPINION AND NOT THE POSITION OF THE PARTY. ONE MADYENKUKU USES SIMILAR WORDS, ITS NOT HIS OPINION NUT THAT OF THE ENTIRE UPND, WHAT IS WRONG WITH US ZAMBIANS? NOW THAT ELECTIONS ARE OVER, CAN WE FOR ONCE PREACH & PRACTICE LOVE

  36. Only dishonesty people support illegality. Everyone knows PF stole UPND votes. That is the more reason PF does not want courts to hear the UPND side of the story. Besides, some of us who have read James Hadley Chase know who really is the master minder of the whole confusion. You have MAFIA in PF by one Inonge Wina. Believe me her mafia started during the 1970s when she was involved in MANDRAX deals. Some of you were still young or not yet born. Did you see how she played it during the Mulungushi saga when PF were fihting for their president! She seems to be cool but dangerous! Believe me she is a woof in a sheep’s skin.

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