PF REJECTS KABWATA RESULTS – cites violence and intimidation, says ECZ failed to provide conducive environment

By SENIYA BANDA and ADRIAN MWANZA

The Patriotic Front (PF) has rejected the Kabwata parliamentary by election results because of the major infarctions that impacted on the credibility, legitimacy and even handedness of the police and the Electoral Commission Zambia (ECZ), PF Acting General Secretary Nickson Chilangwa has charged.

It is reported that some people voted without NRCs while nine polling stations didn’t disclose or paste results. 

He also said that violence was also the order of the day as innocent people were attacked while the Kabwata area even experienced  power outages on the day of voting.

Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Mr Chilangwa said the election was not free and fair as the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) failed to provide a conducive environment for all political players by allowing UPND supporters to intimidate their opponents.

Mr Chilangwa said they did not accept the result because the ground was not free and fair since they were not allowed to campaign freely when the ruling party was allowed to do so at will.

He said their candidate was even forced to go into hiding because the police wanted to arrest him and that there was a strong rumour that he was still on the wanted list.

Mr Chilangwa said the UPND besieged polling stations while the Kabwata constituency experienced power failure which was strange as a number of issues could have transpired during that time.

Meanwhile the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) has indicated that three incidents of violence had been recorded which involved UPND as perpetrators and PF as victims in two cases.

According to the report released by the CCMG, some people voted without NRCs while nine polling stations didn’t disclose or paste results.

The CCMG indicated that these acts violated the Electoral Code of Conduct and called on the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to enforce the Electoral Code of Conduct and the Police to investigate all acts of politically motivated violence and punish the perpetrators.

The CCMG was also concerned by the postponement of the Kabwata Parliamentary By-Election from January 20 to February 3 due to the withdrawal of a candidate who invoked article 52(6) of the Zambian Constitution, and called on the ECZ to urgently engage with stakeholders to kick start the process for electoral reforms based on identified gaps in the legal framework governing elections in Zambia   

CCMG called on the ECZ to actively investigate the following breaches of the Electoral Code of Conduct which occurred during the two weeks preceding the by-election: three incidents of politically-motivated violence, and one incident of use of inflammatory and insulting language

And Mr Chilangwa stated that the party had noted   all events that took place during the election and it would soon communicate the next action once consultations with the lawyers were concluded.

 “We are not looking for sympathy but just stating facts about what really transpired during this period,” he said.

He said even the police were unleashed to intimidate the people from the opposition and that they could not campaign freely.

Mr Chilangwa said the UPND went into panic mode and that was why they even ensured that they postponed  the earlier date for elections so that they could allegedly put in place their machinery to rig.

He said his party was very magnanimous and that despite being attacked during the August elections they went ahead and conceded but that things were now getting out of hand.