Wed, 23 Nov 2016 11:21:17 +0000
THE Patriotic Front party performed very well by winning 10 out of 16 seats in the just ended local government by-elections, President Edgar Lungu has said.
Speaking yesterday before his departure for Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, President Lungu said one political party could not win all the seats because Zambia was a democratic country.
“If you can get six out of 10 then you would have passed the exam; 50 percent plus one is the idea,” President Lungu said.
He said democracy was about a diversity of opinion and choices, adding that if the PF won absolutely and eliminated other political parties, then there would be no multi-party democracy.
The Head of State said if other political parties kept on losing by a wide margin, they would give up. “But there is need to give them hope that there is another alternative,” President Lungu said.
He challenged the opposition to take the PF to task, adding that without being challenged the party would go to sleep.
Meanwhile, President Lungu explained that he has gone to Equatorial Guinea to foster collaboration between Africa the Arab world.
“You can only learn if you travel, experience other people’s lives and share [information], that is the whole purpose,” President Lungu said.
“Africa and the Arab world have been collaborating over a long period but some of us have been on the outside. We want to see what it is that we get out of friendship between Africa and the Arab world.”
The Head of State is attending to the 4th Africa-Arab summit which has attracted several Heads of State and government from Arab and the African Union member countries.
