16 Presidential candidates have successfully filed in their nomination papers for the 12th August general elections out of the 20 paid-up candidates, after the presidential nominations which started on Monday 17th May through to yesterday Thursday 20th May, officially closed.
Speaking during a briefing in Lusaka to mark the closing of the presidential nomination process, ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano said that Movement for Democrtatic Congress ( MDC )’s Felix Mutati, United Party Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia ( UPPZ ) Charles Chanda, All People’s Congress Party ( APCP) leader Nason Msoni with Independent candidate Masuwa Kalabi having failed to file in his nomination papers.
“The first include Mr Nason Msoni, All People’s Congress Party whose pre-processing was incomplete and also did not submit nomination documents, we also had Mr Peter Chanda New Congress Party who officially withdrew from the nomination process.
“We also had Mr Felix Mutati movement for democratic change whose pre-processing was incomplete and later officially withdrew from the process and last but not least Mr Kalabi who was unsuccessful as he did not meet the number of required supporters,” he said.
And speaking when officially closing the nomination process, ECZ Chairperson Justice Esau Chulu explained that the closing of the nomination process delayed allowing the independent candidate to file his nomination papers, adding that the commission had to use its discretion to go beyond the 17 hours deadline just to allow the candidate to file in his nomination but he was however unsuccessful.
“I had to exercise my discretion to allow a candidate who was already on the premises to bring his supporters in the hope that by the time we should have closed, he would have raised one thousand supporters,” he said.
And earlier, Mr Kalabi accused the commission of not communicating adequately with him on the requirements needed when filing his nomination process, claiming that his supporters were blocked from accessing the Showgrounds which the designated place was meant to scrutinize the supporters.
Mr Nshindano however denied the allegation saying the commission adequately informed all the candidates prior to the start of the process and that candidates need to own up when they make mistakes as opposed to falsely accusing the commission.
The ruling PF, UPND, Third Liberation Movement, Socialist Party, Party of National Unity and Progress (PNUP), UNIP’s, United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia (UPPZ) and MMD have this week successfully filed in their nomination papers.
Other parties are Patriots for Economic Progress (PEP), Democratic Party (DP ), Leadership Movement (LM), Zambia United for Sustainable Development ( ZUSD ), National Restoration Party (NAREP), New Heritage Party(NHP), People’s Alliance for Change (PAC) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF ) all successfully managed to file in their nomination papers for their respective Presidential candidates and running mates.