Good morning once again fellow citizens, and welcome to the latest of our 2021 Elections
Project updates. Today’s update is the fifth in this series, and we are delighted with the
feedback that we have been getting on some of the issues that we have been highlighting in
these updates. I wish to remind you that the purpose of these updates is to highlight the positive
and negative observations that we are making about different aspects of the electoral process
as we head towards the general elections on 12th August 2021.
Our focus today will be on the escalation towards banning public rallies, the constitutional right
to petition nominations, and the implications of the Electoral Process (Amendment) Act number
32 of 2021.
- Escalation towards banning public rallies
In our 4th update last week, we noted that the decision by the Patriotic Front (PF) to ban public
rallies for their candidates in response to the advice given by the Electoral Commission of
Zambia (ECZ) appeared to have been a cosmetic one and we cited the fact that senior
members of the party had been holding rallies even after the ban had been announced. We
therefore urged authorities not to use the PF’s ban as a justification for preventing opposition
political parties from holding rallies of their own. We have however noted a rapid escalation
towards a full ban on political rallies. Following the presidential directive to the Police and Health
authorities, the Inspector General of Police issued a statement to the effect that political parties
intending to hold rallies should now seek certification from public health inspectors before
notifying the police of their intended activity. In our view, the potential for the process as
announced by the Inspector General of Police to be used as a tool for limiting the ability of
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opposition political parties to directly engage with the electorate is very high. As we have noted
in the past, the biased implementation of the Public Order Act has been a matter of grave
concern for many stakeholders, and our fear is that the COVID-19 pandemic will now be used
as a scapegoat of convenience for the further limiting of freedoms through the Public Order Act.
Beyond this, we are worried that the President’s directive interferes with the work of the ECZ,
whose mandate it is to set the rules for how the electoral process should be managed. As much
as the President is Head of State, he must not lose sight of the fact that he is also a candidate in
the 12th August election, and it is unacceptable for him to set the rules of a contest in which he
himself is an interested participant. Let us remember that the ECZ already gave guidance on
how political parties should campaign and advised that parties should consider not holding
rallies. How will future guidance given by the ECZ be taken seriously if the President is allowed
to disregard that guidance and to set the rules of engagement himself? We wish to urge the
President that as we go towards 12th August, he should show us less of examples of his power
but more of the power of his examples. We urge him to lead by example in contributing to the
creation of a level playing field, which will ultimately contribute to enhancing the integrity of our
electoral process in general and of the 12th August elections in particular.
We also wish to remind the PF, ECZ and the Zambia Police Service that a level playing field is
the foundation for a free and fair election, and they must do everything in their power to create
that level playing field.
Having said all this, TI-Z would like to put it on record that we are not oblivious to the
seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the need for all of us to do everything we can to
reduce the risk of transmission. We would therefore like to remind opposition political parties
that they have the responsibility and obligation to protect their supporters and to ensure that
they do everything in their power to reduce the risk of COVID transmission. We therefore call on
them to heed the advice of the Inspector General of Police and provide health authorities with
full details of whatever mitigation measures they will put in place for the holding of their political
gatherings. At the same time, we are confident that the health authorities will act with
professionalism in considering those mitigation measures, and that where these measures are
adequate, authorization to proceed will duly be given. Ultimately, it is in every one of our
interests to see to it that we enhance the integrity of our electoral process, while also ensuring
adherence to COVID-19 mitigation measures as given by health experts.
3 - Constitutional right to petition nominations
According to Article 52(4) of the Constitution of Zambia as amended in 2016, “A person may
challenge, before a court or tribunal, as prescribed, the nomination of a candidate within seven
days of the close of nomination and the court shall hear the case within twenty-one days of its
lodgement.” TI-Z therefore recognizes this constitutional right of Mr. John Sangwa SC, Dr.
Sishuwa Sishuwa and others, in petitioning the nomination of President Lungu as a presidential
candidate for the forthcoming elections. We therefore condemn the statement that was issued
by the PF Lusaka Province Chairperson, Mr. Kennedy Kamba, against State Counsel Sangwa
for merely exercising his constitutional right. We also take note that the PF Secretary General,
Mr. Davis Mwila issued a statement in which he contradicted Mr. Kamba with respect to inciting
PF supporters to turn up in large numbers at the courts during the hearing of the petition. We
commend Mr. Mwila for making that statement. However, we also noted that Mr. Mwila did not
condemn the actions of Mr. Kamba in making threats against State Counsel Sangwa, which
suggests a lack of coordination within the PF leadership structures at national and provincial
levels. - Implications of Electoral Process (Amendment) Act 32 of 2021
TI-Z has completed an analysis of the Electoral Process (Amendment) Act no 32 of 2021, which
among other things, provides for voting among people that are incarcerated. Although the prison
vote was largely expected, following the ruling by the Constitutional Court in the case of Godfrey
Malembeka versus The Attorney-General and Electoral Commission of Zambia, the
implementation of this provision has however been lacking in terms of wider stakeholder
consultation. Consequently, the amended Act, which is meant to address the modalities for
prisoners to vote, is limited in terms of scope. Many issues around how to have access and to
campaign in prisons have not been adequately addressed and therefore remain unclear. These
limitations will potentially reduce the integrity and transparency of the prison vote and this has
created skepticism among political parties. We therefore urge the ECZ and the Zambia
Correctional Service to provide more clarity on these issues in order for there to be assurance
about the integrity of the electoral process in relation to the prison vote.
We also noted from our analysis that the amended Act has extensively focused on the polling
day while neglecting to make adequate provision for the campaign period. It is not enough for “a
candidate” to deliver or distribute campaign materials in prisons, there is need to allow
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candidates and their teams to explain their manifestos to the prisoners through campaigns. The
mechanisms for doing that are not clearly spelt out, and the potential for malpractices to occur is
therefore high.
In conclusion for today, we continue to urge all stakeholders in the electoral process to conduct
themselves with civility and respect. The history of election campaigns in Zambia is littered with
undesirable elements such as violence, tribalism, and electoral corruption, and it is our hope
that all those will be avoided as we head towards 12th August.
Thank you for making time to watch our update today, and we look forward to you joining us for
the next one. God bless you all, and God bless our beautiful Zambia. Thank you.
