THE 2016 GENERAL ELECTIONS

The long awaited election date is nearer now, only 2 days to go before Zambia goes to the polls to elect political leaders.

 A constitutional referendum will be held alongside the elections, with proposals to amend the bill of rights and Article 79.

The previous general elections in 2011 resulted in a victory for the Patriotic Front (PF), whose candidate Michael Sata was elected President, with the PF winning 61 of the 150 seats in the National Assembly.^[5]

 Following Sata's death in October 2014, early presidential elections were held to elect a successor to complete the remainder of his five-year term, and PF candidate Edgar Lungu was elected.

Edgar Lungu beat Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development by just 27,757 votes and the opposition has yet to accept the credibility of the election.

Although previously the President had been elected in a single round of voting by the first-past-the-post system, in 2015 the National Assembly approved the change in the constitution to change to a two-round system.^[7] The constitutional change also introduced the concept of running mates; previously the vice president was appointed after the elections. The running mate, now being an elected member, can assume office directly if the president is deemed unfit to rule.^[8]

Of the 159 members of the National Assembly, 150 are elected by the first-past-the-post system in single-member constituencies, with a further eight appointed by the President and a Speaker elected from outside the National Assembly

A total of nine candidates along with their running mates registered to run for the presidency. Out of the 46 political parties, only five managed to pay their candidate's deposit by the deadline of 17 May 2016. The deadline was subsequently extended by a day, with four other parties nominating a candidate.

The race is expected to be a close race mainly between Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front and Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development. Both leaders competed in the 2015 presidential elections and Lungu won by a very narrow margin.

CONDUCT

Both sides traded accusations of inciting violence for political gain; the ruling Patriotic Front accused the United Party for National Development (UPND), of inciting unnecessary violence, and carrying out its “Operation Watermelon” to create tension in the country. In response, the UPND accused the Patriotic Front of politicizing state entities against them.^[12]

Violent outbreaks occurred in Lusaka after the government made the decision to suspend the operations of The Postnewspaper (one of the few independent newspapers in the country) on 10 June.^[13] As a result of the violence, the Election Commission suspended campaigning in Lusaka and Namwala for ten days, and the ban on the newspaper was lifted on 18 July.^[14] However, on 23 June the government started taking action against The Post for unpaid taxes of around $6 million; the newspaper denied the claim saying the issue was still being discussed in court. The opposition accused the government of silencing the media to reduce their coverage.^[

 

BALLOT PAPERS

There was a lot of controversy in the printing of the ballot papers; previously all ballot papers had been printed in South Africa, but the Electoral commission of Zambia awarded the contract for the 2016 elections to a firm in Dubai.

The contract was significantly more expensive and many opposition parties criticised the move. Parties opposed the move as printing the ballot papers outside Africa was expensive to verify and increased the chance of electoral fraud.^[20] To counter the suspicion of rigging, the Electoral Commission allowed party officials to travel to Dubai to witness the printing of the ballots; all ballot papers were to be only released if all party officials approved of the process.^[21] The printing was completed on 20 July 2016 and the ballots were transported to Zambia on 28 July 2016.^[22] However, concerns with respect to the transport and distribution of the ballot papers then arose. The Zambian Air Force were responsible for distributing the ballots across the country.

This year’s elections are unique and historical in nature, not only by virtue of newly introduced Presidential running mates, voting for district and city council leadership but also the referendum.
In the referendum we have been given a chance to have a say on our rights as Zambians. We shall be required to vote “Yes” for the addition or “No” as refusal to add to new social, economic and political rights to be enshrined in the Zambian Constitution and amendments to other existing rights.

We really need to exercise our rights to vote in this year’s elections because its effects will go beyond five years.

The effects of any leadership ushered into office outlives its five years tenure. In addition, the referendum determines the rights we desire to enjoy for possibly a long time.