Tue, 19 Sep 2017 13:31:37 +0000
By Bennie Mundando
POLITICAL parties must work hard to dismantle the current regional electoral outlook which has again shown its ugly face in the just-ended by-elections, political activist McDonald Chipenzi has observed.
Mr Chipenzi said Zambia’s electoral future was in limbo and not promising of any good news.
He said the just-ended four district chairpersons’ and nine ward by-elections were clearly a continuation of the 2016 general election voting pattern which was premised on regionalism, an indication that there was still work to be done if the outlook was to change in 2021.
He noted that regional politics were dangerous to the promotion of peace and unity in the country hence the need for massive sensitization and political will especially from the PF and UPND to change the state of affairs.
“Indeed, these by-elections still point to the deeply reinforced regional voting in the country. This can be evidenced by the fact that the ruling party is failing to grab seats from the opposition UPND’s region while the UPND is also failing to grab seats from the PF regions,” he said
Mr Chipenzi said the two electoral positions were well-defined and cemented, adding that it was dangerous for the promotion of national unity and electoral democracy.
“It points to the fact that, if nothing happens and done from now up to 2021, the voting patterns will remain the same. This will entail that the two political parties will not waste time campaigning in some regions, save for Lusaka and somewhat Copperbelt, where they are not popular as it would be regarded as a waste of time and resources,” Mr. Chipenzi said.
He noted that instead of coming up with another commission of inquiry on voting patterns after the 2021 elections, it was incumbent upon political players to dismantle the current trend.
He said if nothing was done to prevent the current situation from worsening, the country risked having another Choma declaration which came about by deep-rooted regional voting and tribalism.
“Failure to dismantle the current electoral outlook, I see another Choma Declaration of June 1972 aimed at bringing unity in this country which was deeply divided on regional lines, being eminently possible once again during our time,” he said.
