By NATION REPORTER
THE August 12, 2021 elections may not take place after all if the Constitutional Court agrees with Linda Kasonde and Sishuwa Sishuwa being represented by John Sangwa who have petitioned against presidential running mates for allegedly violating the constitution by failing to pay nomination fees and to provide 100 registered voters from each province as stipulated in the constitution among other infarction.
All presidential running mates have not paid nomination fees and have not provided the 100 registered voters from each province but Article 30 (1)(b) of the Electoral Process Act 35 exempts them from paying nomination fees while the constitution is silent on providing 100 registered voters from each province.
Article 30 (1) (b) states that “except that a candidate for election as a Vice President shall not pay the prescribed fee”.
However, Article 52 (6) says where a candidate is disqualified after the close of nominations and before the election date, the Electoral Commission shall cancel the election and require the filling of fresh nominations by eligible candidates and the elections shall be held within thirty days of filing of the fresh nominations.
It is not clear if the entire election would be cancelled considering that the tenure of Presidency is coterminous with Parliament.
Rectifying this anomaly will require a new electoral calendar.
The failed Bill 10 was intended remove Article 52 to bridge the differences between the Electoral Process Act against constitutional provisions by providing a clear and an unambiguous provision.
Article 110 (2) states that the qualifications and disqualifications applying to a presidential candidate apply to the person selected by the presidential candidate to be the running mat
The constitution in Article 100 however only talks about the qualifications and disqualifications for nomination of a Presidential candidate and states in section (1) (i) that a person qualifies to be nominated as a candidate for election as President if that person ‘pays the prescribed election fee…’ and (1)(j) ‘is supported by at least one hundred registered voters from each province.
There is no mention of a running mate in Article 100.
The rejected Bill 10 was amongst other things supposed to repeal Article 52. According to the Daily Nation investigations, the main bone of contention in the nomination of running mates centres on two conflicting provisions of law in the Electoral Process Act and the Constitution.
