TI-Z has been monitoring the 2021 general elections through its elections project and has been sharing concerns with key stakeholders and voters throughout the process. From the very beginning, we have noted and condemned violence perpetrated by both PF and UPND, and we have been urging the leadership of these political parties to tame violence. We equally noted how the opposition were denied fair access to public media and limited from campaigning under the pretext of implementing COVID-19 measures. Through our weekly elections project updates, we have been demanding for the levelling of the playing field in order to guarantee free and fair elections.
We are greatly astonished by the statement from the Patriotic Front (PF) and President Edgar Lungu on the fairness of the 2021 general election.
We are alive to the seriousness of the issues raised in the President’s statement, and we strongly condemn the violence that was witnessed in Northwestern province and in Lusaka on voting day, leading to the loss of life in the former, and we pray these cases will not go unpunished.
That said, we find it surprising that the President and ruling party are coming out in such a manner concerning the elections when the opposition has been subjected to a range of hindrances during the campaign period. We would like to remind the PF that a free and fair election is not only achieved on polling day or during the declaration of results.
We also wish to remind the PF of Section 36 (2) in the Electoral Process Act No 3 of 2016 that “the absence of an election or polling agent from a gazette or prescribed place where an electoral proceeding is being conducted shall not invalidate those proceedings.” While we acknowledge that it is within the right of any political party to challenge elections results, we urge the President and the ruling party to allow the ongoing electoral process to run its course and wait for a winner to be declared and then they can petition the courts as provided for by our Constitution.
Sampa J. Kalungu
TI-Z Chapter President
