ECZ has grabbed NRPUP seats – Tonse

…Muhabi Lungu says the ECZ owes Zambians an explanation on why it decided to grab Proportional Representation seats, which were won by Brian Mundubile as the NRPUP presidential candidate and unlawfully awarding them to the UPND By BARNABAS ZULU THE Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has brazenly and wantonly grabbed the NRPUP Proportional Representation (PR) seats and awarding them to the UPND when the law does not allow the Commission to do so, the Tonse Pamodzi Alliance has charged. Mr Lungu, the Tonse Pamodzi Alliance secretary general has disputed the ECZ) explanation on the redistribution of proportional representation seats initially allocated to the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity, stating that the commission’s interpretation of the law is in contradiction of the Constitution. Addressing the media yesterday, Mr Lungu said the ECZ had redistributed eight of the 16 seats initially allocated to NRPUP to the ruling UPND, a conduct he argued was against the Constitution and had deprived the opposition party of representation it was entitled to based on the presidential election results. He said the Constitution required proportional representation seats to be distributed according to the valid votes received by presidential candidates in the initial ballot. “The Constitution says that this apportionment shall be done in proportion to the total number of valid votes received by a presidential candidate in the initial ballot. The commission shall, where a political party refuses to take up a seat that has been distributed to the political party, redistribute the vacant seat to a political party that qualified for a seat in line with the formula for distribution of seats,” he said, quoting the relevant provision,” Mr Lungu said. He argued that the Electoral Act’s provision allowing the ECZ to redistribute seats where a political party refused to take them up contradicted the constitutional principle of proportional representation. Mr Lungu questioned why the law anticipated that a political party would refuse seats under a system that had not previously been implemented in Zambia. “For you to come as drafters, to come to the conclusion that someone will refuse is, at best, incompetence; at worst, it is diabolical and sinister,” he said. He, however, clarified that he was not directly accusing the ECZ of deliberately designing the provision to disadvantage NRPUP, but said the circumstances raised suspicion about how the law had been formulated. “I am not accusing the Electoral Commission of Zambia, but I am saying that there are grounds to suspect that the manner in which this particular clause was put there, in order for it to be ultraviolet to the Constitution, was designed to be so,” Mr Lungu said. He further argued that the commission’s explanation that NRPUP had failed to submit its list on time was different from the legal provision dealing with a political party refusing to take up seats. According to Mr Lungu, the ECZ’s allocation had resulted in NRPUP receiving fewer seats than its share of the presidential vote warranted, while the UPND benefited from the redistribution. He cited figures he attributed to the commission, saying President Hakainde Hichilema received 3,071,706 votes, while NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile received 1,858,656 votes. Mr Lungu said the allocation of seats should reflect the proportion of valid votes obtained by the respective presidential candidates, arguing that the redistribution had undermined that principle. “What the Electoral Commission has done through subordinate legislation is to take the following votes from Mundubile, 856,136. They have taken 856,136 votes away from Brian Mundubile and they have given those votes as a proportionality to HH,” he said. He described the allocation as “a mockery to the democratic system which we have chosen”, insisting that the Constitution should take precedence over subordinate legislation. Mr Lungu said the Tonse Pamodzi Alliance secretariat would recommend to the alliance’s Council of Presidents and Politburo that the matter be taken to the Constitutional Court for interpretation. “It is the view of the secretariat, with colleagues who have discussed this matter, that we will recommend to the Council of Presidents, to the Politburo, that the TONSE Pamoja Alliance must strongly consider taking this matter to the Constitutional Court,” he said. Mr Lungu also called on the judiciary to interpret the law fairly, saying the alliance wanted the constitutional provisions to be upheld rather than interpreted in favour of any political party. He further said the alliance was considering engaging international human rights mechanisms over what it described as violations of citizens’ rights, including freedom of association, assembly and peaceful protest.

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ECZ has grabbed NRPUP seats – Tonse