By Venus Msyani
The overwhelming number of petitions of the just ended August 12 election by United Party for National Development (UPND) losing members of parliament is a self-sabotage.
It is questioning the integrity of the African Union Election Observation Mission, the European Union Election Observation Mission, the Commonwealth observers, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) observers and the rest who declared the election free and fair.
Because of the integrity of these organizations Zambia has UPND as a ruling party today. It is because of the integrity of these organizations former president opted not to go forward with his claim that the August 12 election was not free and fair.
The world now sees Zambia on top of the list of the best democracy in the religion. Praises are being received from around the world about democracy in the country because of reports the world has received from these organizations about Zambia August 12 election.
“The overall peaceful conduct of the elections is a clear testament to the continued commitment of the Zambian people to upholding Zambia’s democracy, peace, and stability.” Statement by the UN Sectary General quoted on SABC news.
Statements like this are a big win for Zambia because like said by president Hakainde Hichilema, attract investors.
No serious investor would want to put his or her investment in a country where the bar of democracy is very low.
Hearing that over half of the total number of MPs have petitioned the outcome of the just ended election in Zambia will no doubt negatively change the world perception of Zambia democracy and discourage investors.
99.9% is the highest score democracy can get. In the history of democracy, no election has been recorded hundred percent.
This is why UPND should sit down these losing MPs and ask them to cancel these petitions. It is unconscious sabotage on president Hakainde Hichilema victory.
At the beginning former president Edgar Lungu had claimed that the August 12 election was not free and fair. If these petitions get successful, it will be confirmed that the former president was right.
Is that what the United Party for National Development (UPND) is asking for?
God has given Zambians what they have been praying and fighting for: Change and strong opposition. Petitions can wait.
Chi color Observers observe elections on Election Day. They’re not Police to check who’s giving mealie meal in the middle of the night or who’s corrupting would be voters with cash. Its not the job of the referee to monitor the training sessions. He’s job is the 90 mins of the game. Your analysis is flawed.
Let them petition but I can assure you if they don’t lose in court, they will be embarrassed at the polls. That will happen and they will wish they had not gone ahead with those petitions.
Edgar Lungu used “empowerment funds” which are bribes to subvert democracy and buy votes for this past elections.Therefore the problem here isn’t “the game day”
Electorates this time around woke up from their slumber. They voted for a person, not for a party be it Presidential, parliamentary or councillorship. Let those petitions be heard by courts of law and determined.
@LT (democracy in the Religion??)
These are tactics to deflect attention from their promises..they’ve realized that all their problems are not achievable..not even one of them..so now they will be footing around in courts with petitions meanwhile time is ticking and still no employment for the youths…commodities still very expensive..HH overpromised and all he wanted was to find himself in State house and now he cares less…no wonder he wears surgical gloves he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty
#5 Saulosi Two desperate entities is the youth for jobs and Bali for the “job”
The problem of Upnd is that elections are only not free and fair when a Upnd candidate loses but if a Upnd candidate wins then the elections are free and fair. There were incidents of deaths of pf cadres at the hands of Upnd prior to the elections in some areas where Upnd has won the elections but pf has not claimed unfairness in these areas. Their aim is to ensure Zambia becomes a defecto one party nation so that they have field days in parliament in introducing bad laws for the country. Watch the space guys.
HH is having sleepless nights every time he thinks about the promises he made…..in 5 years time he will still have nothing to point his gloved fingers at…just interviews with western media and Mutinta showing off her granny hats and granny church outfits…
NOT TO MENTION THE PF MONITORS WHO WERE CHASED FROM POLLING STATIONS IN SOUTHERN PROVINCE
#9 Zambia First if we’re to believe the videos making rounds, we can safely say even the police were intimidated.
YES HERE THE UPND ARE TOTALY WRONG ,as ALOT OF THESE PEOPLE DID LITTLE TO MARKET THEMSELVES , LET THEM JUST WITHDRAW THESE USELESS PETITIONS ,WE SUPPORTED THEM WHY DID THEY FAIL ,PEOPLE VOTED FOR POPULAR PEOPLE ONLY
Is that our problem. People still have some cash to spend. Lawyers need to survive after all, school leavers need monitoring allowances, civil servant need those two night allowances, politicians need allowances as they go campaigning, our women need a few more chitenge, our guys need a little beer and our musicians need a share. Ooh my goodness. The loosers can petition again and again till the next general election. But please, don’t cover them on our znbc. We need to watch something different. We are better watching zilile ngoma than lies from politicians.
ECZ lamentably failed to conduct free & fair elections. Even the observers said this in plain English. ECZ kept shifting blame if complaints were against 4ma ruling PF candidates….it’s job of police, ZAF issues flying permits, MoH in charge of Covid restrictions etc etc. How do you beat opposition candidate till he faints & expect them not to petition ? Era of impunity is gone, let PF learn a bitter lesson.
Surely someone sat down and wrote this “It is questioning the integrity of the African Union Election Observation Mission, the European Union Election Observation Mission, the Commonwealth observers, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) observers and the rest who declared the election free and fair.” did this person read the reports especially by EU observers they didnt declare the elections free and fair. Today you want to listen to what observers have concluded….really laughable indeed.
It does not matter whether all seats are petitioned we should zero tolerance to electro malpractices ..every candidate has right to petition if they feel disadvantaged especially what was observed at the last elections which well documented were candidates were physically…
were physically restricted to campaign, empowerment funds were used to bribe voters even coffers were empty, using the police and MOH to restrict other candidates.
We saw money being dished out by PF to voters. That has to stop (STOP BRIBING voters)!!!
What is wrong is wrong and what is right is right: the law allows for petitions, FULL STOP. If those who won cheated by bribing voters, using violence to intimidate etc etc, then they will lose their seat. Otherwise there’s nothing to worry about.
Certification of an election as free and fair by foreign observers cannot deny aggrieved participants their right to petition the results. Unfairness in an election doesn’t start on the election day and end on the day results are declared. It can start months or years before the election is held as was the case during the greater part of the PF rule when opposition parties, especially UPND, were not allowed to campaign freely. The observers who arrived only a few days before the election didn’t have full details about what had happened before their arrival in the country. The observers were not inspectors so their coverage was somehow limited by certain factors. I don’t think there was a foreign observer in my other home at Kashiji on the Zambezi west bank or any other remote area for…
The truth is only one person’s life has really changed…HH and Mutinta…the rest nada and it will be like this for the next 5 years….no wonder he’s a Politician…time for HH now to steal and pay off all his debts…..he has to pay back his Funders for the past 20 years….no wonder he wants more billions…he owes alot of money…even his house was put as collateral in the just ended elections….now he can breath a sigh of relief.
Don’t be fooled…leaders like borrowing because almost 70% of the borrowed money ends up in their pockets…ask yourself why did HH put his close friend and yes boss as a finance minister…..first of all they’re trying too sit on 2.9 billion dollars….thank God we caught them red handed…but imagine if it was Lungu who said the reserves were empty and yet there was 2.9 billion dollars……HH is not a Saint only in the eyes of his loyalists….
Saulosi – You are not obligated to comment on every article….its clear you are scrapping the bottom of the barrel what an unpleasant sight. Next you will say his New Kasama House he built belongs to NHA …really laughable
PF petitioned about 50 seats in 2011. Why are you crying? It is a constitutional right. OF has been kicked out. Credible opposition parties should hit the ground running campaigning to obtain entrance to parliament. Edgar knew his petition would be a waste of money. He controlled all machinery. How possible is it that there could have been malpractices against him. He blocked opposition from campaigning, bribed voters through money, bicycles, houses, school books,and other materials; even reduced chiefs to vuvuzelas for him. DMMU were used extensively to campaing for him. No one chased PF monitors in Southern Province. He would have been embarrassed to petition. Thuggery was in his party; the vite was against the atrocities by his party. He was so blinded by thugs surrounding him he saw…
Munchinji – This is the same principle they want to use on those politicians and PEPs who amassed so much wealth through corruption…let’s just forget about Honey Bee, $1million FireTenders, Forest 27, overpriced Ambulances etc and just start afresh as if nothing happened.
Some observers are danger to some organizations because they are undermining the process of transparency in electoral process. Petitions are part of transparency process in every General elections. Therefore, petitions must not be restricted based on presidential results. Democratic rights must be expulsed by everyone to cut back the deprivation of citizens.
Show me a country that held elections that met your definition of free and fare. You were the ones encouraging your supporters to get whatever was given to them but know who to vote for. The said gifts voters received day or night had no reflection on who they voted for, according to your campaign message. Your party equally received campaign gifts from foreign groups and entities to influence Zambia’s elections. Who protested against that? External or internal gift, it does not matter, all is unfair, period! What then is your problem UPND? This simply suggests you are a pathetic bunch of greedy and entitled individuals. You even compare with similar PF petitions in 2011 as if you have ever approved of anything PF has done. Do you even have a vision of your own or its let’s do as per…
Lobyolo – I can show you a dozen countries where elections have been declared free and fair ie England, Scotland, Germany, France etc…they dont tolerate electro malpractices. There is no law in Zambia stopping a party receiving external funding …please do not confuse external funding with voter bribery. Do not attempt to justify a wrong by hallucinating about all types of things.
…. Do you even have a vision of your own or its let’s do as per PF? If you really feel strongly about free and fair, why not start on a clean slate. Let HH declare all August elections including presidential as not free and fair and hold fresh elections. Let’s see if you will dare. PATHETIC!
Those saying PF did this or that when questioned should realise that the people of Zambia didn’t vote a new government in so that it starts aping PF.
These elections had many candidates at different levels. People may have know the Presidential candidate HH because he has been around for a long time even if he did not campaign much publicly, but an unknown parliamentary candidate whose campaigning was suppressed by an incumbent MP in a PF stronghold may have the right to petition the election so that a new election may be run FAIRLY.
The bye elections were the order of the day, from 2012 to 2021.
That is the root they took. Right decision or not, the ultimate judge arbitrated on them last August. Courts lean towards people in government., but the peoples resolve always triumphs.
No one can stop UPND to challenge the PF MPs’ alleged fraudulent victory. No body halted PF from doing the same.
Lobyolo – Lazy Lungu had every right to file a petition 14 days after the winner was declared but he didn’t because he lost terribly…if HH lost he had a solid case to petition just like he did in 2016, did you not see HH being denied entry in Chipata with his pilot? Lazy Lungu was in Chainda today worshiping HH didnt have that luxury wherever he went he was blocked.
Its a constitution right to petition….get this through your skull its NOT up to a Head of State to declare that ELECTIONS ARE NOT FREE AND FAIR…this is why we have the constitutional court. YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING WITH A LAWLESS PF REGIME WITH NO RESPECT FOR ARMS OF GOVERMENT HENCE YOUR COMMENTS.
Petitioning of Election Results are provided for in our Electoral Law. So there is nothing to be ashamed from the Petitions filed with the Court for 2021 Elections. Petitions actually cleanse our Electoral Systems and Institutions. Where mistakes and malpractices were made they will be corrected for the sake future Elections. ECZ, ZAF,ZPS, Political Parties and the Courts should learn alot from the happenings in the 2021 Elections. Zambians have demonstrated that they cannot be bought with Money and Gifts to vote in a certain way. Concourt now know that they can pass a Verdict on an issue but the Voters have the Final Say. Leaders are chosen by those who vote and not those who count votes.These are lessons to be learnt.
The petitions could in fact be doing the opposite to what the author thinks. World stage and localized politics analyze both.
Tarino, you’re missing the point. I may not like PF and their behavior in the run up to the elections but I equally dislike the hypocrisy displayed by UPND. How can elections, campaigned by the same PF in areas where they won or lost justify fairness in some areas and unfair in others? It’s either all was fair or not, period! Hence a clean slate. To the contrary, HH can petition that elections were unfair even though he won and that can trigger new elections to be held. Kaunda triggered electrons to be held early after multi partism, so saying HH cannot do it because it’s not in the constitution is complete ignorance on your part. As for the countries you have mentioned, are you sure losers didn’t complain about the conduct of elections at all? Losers do accept the loss but it…
Lobyolo – Electro Petitions are considered on a case by case basis it doesn’t matter if Sean Tembo won Presidency …stop this hallucinating like you have stepped on a colony of fire ants. I am surprised you are not getting this given that you reside in RSA.
What goes round comes around! Under Sata the PF petitioned all seats won by the opposition and it would have been no different this time too had PF won! The petitioners are individuals who are aggrieved in some way about their losing an election due to some malpractices they believe they have evidence to prove, so it’s their constitutional right to seek redress in the appropriate court! We should not be in self denial that UPND had been destined to lose the elections as per PF clandestine plan aided by various government institutions but it was the alertness of UPND that thwarted the outcome that PF thought was already under their wraps! It’s a situation currently pertaining in Zambia that is yet to settle for the winners of the just past elections to begin aligning building blocks as…
Watching these to and for discussions, my take as a Zambian. PF supporters, bite your fingers and accept reality. UPND supporters, rarely does mankind forgive if you don’t live up to your promises. My advice to president HH is as per his promises, start rebuilding what he thinks was not built under for president ECL. Otherwise, here we are all just making noise. Ukatana no wikwite. It’s time for the UPDN to start fulfilling their promises because now they are the government.
“Ninty-nine percent…” not “99.9%…” should be how you start a sentence if you choose to start it with a number.
@Tarino, I’m surprised you don’t know that SA has few, if any results, that are petitioned despite various complaints from the loosing side. Besides, it’s a poor comparison because no individuals are voted into power, they vote for a party. I care less about UPND petitioning the results but the moral part of it and why a country like Zambia that’s struggling with finances should keep wasting money on foolish by elections. It’s a democratic right, I get it, but some of the UPND pertitioners are just abusing those rights as they lost terribly to their opponents. People should learn to accept defeat with grace. But then again, that’s a virtue I have not seen in UPND.