2026 ELECTIONS WILL NOT BE FREE AND FAIR, M’MEMBE TELLS EU DELEGATION
Leader of the opposition Socialist Party Zambia has met the European Union Delegation.
Dr M’membe during a meeting at his party’s Headquarters in Garden Compound in Lusaka said the forthcoming election in Zambia will not be free and fair.
M’MEMBE BRIEFS EU DELEGATION ON ZAMBIA’S ‘UNPRECEDENTED SHRINKING’ DEMOCRATIC SPACE
Lusaka, Wednesday (January 31, 2024)
MEDIA STATEMENT
Socialist Party – SP President Fred M’membe has hosted a delegation of the European Union Elections Follow-up Mission which is meeting stakeholders ahead of the 2026 General Election.
Addressing the delegation at SP Secretariat in Lusaka’s Garden Compound, Dr. M’membe said the 2026 General Election will not be free and fair because of shrinking democratic space.
“The EU observed the 2021 General Election. I was worried about the conduct of the UPND in those elections. In areas where they were strong, it is not a secret, there were serious malpractices. They drove out Polling Agents from other political parties in Southern, Western and North Western Provinces and Southern part of Central Province. They were remaining themselves alone. When former President Edgar Lungu said elections were rigged, no body took him serious. But indeed there was some serious malpractices by the UPND. I understand that it was difficult to operate under the PF and some of the measures the UPND took could have been justified at that time but my worry was, are they going to carry those practices into Government? And indeed they have done so,” he said.
Dr. M’membe said from the first by elections UPND Administration conducted in 2021, violence and other malpractices continued.
“To this day such things are deepening. And if we continue on this path, it will be impossible to hold free and fair elections in 2026. It is not possible even now to hold free and fair by-elections. I have been a participant campaigning in those elections myself. This is not the atmosphere under which you can hold free and fair elections.
The SP President said it is worrying that the institutions of governance such as the Judiciary, Police and the Electoral Commission of Zambia-ECZ, are losing credibility.
Dr. M’membe said Zambia and his party in particular is ready to work with the EU to maintain peace.
“If elections become less and less credible, people will turn to themselves. Elections are not the only way of choosing leaders,” he said.
The Opposition Leader said people can choose leaders in many other ways if elections lose extreme credibility but that his party sincerely believes that the best way to choose leaders is through elections.
“All other forms of choosing leaders are not sustainable and do not lead to stability. All the time, they lead to instability. Those who want a peaceful world cannot be opposed to free, fair and peaceful elections. We do not want you to send us aid because we are paralyzed by instability. We want you to help us to hold free and fair elections that are peaceful,” he said.
Dr. M’membe said the clear path Zambia has taken will lead to serious problems in the 2026 General Election as opposition are not allowed to hold meetings.
“You cannot have a situation where opposition political parties cannot even hold the smallest of meetings. And you want them to participate in an election? It’s like in a soccer competition where you do not allow other teams to train but you just want them to come and enter the tournament while the other team is training,” he said.
The SP President said President Hakainde Hichilema has been holding meetings and rallies from the time he ascended to power in 2021 while no opposition leaders are allowed to do so.
“Hichilema is campaigning for 2026 but we are not allowed to do the same,” he said.
Dr. M’membe said the UPND has perpetrated violence against the opposition political parties but that they are not allowed to defend themselves.
“Again when all these institutions fail, people will turn to themselves and look at what they can do for themselves. That is not a recipe for good governance and stability. It’s a recipe for instability,” he said.
The Opposition Leader said his party took the European Union Elections Follow-up Mission seriously.
“We highly welcome your presence in our country and much more so your visit to our office. The last time I met your delegation, I asked that why do you summon us to your offices? Come to our little huts also and meet us in our own offices. I am grateful that request has been responded to favorably,” he.
This is contained in a statement issued by SP Director Media Brian Hapunda.
Why can’t this man report to Putin, Xi Jimping and his other colleagues in the East? This is hypocrisy. When it suits you, then you pleas with the EU.
In Zimbabwe, you never saw anything wrong when all the world saw something horrible.
Meembe is really a power hungry hyena!
For as long as Fred M’membe is there, the elections won’t be free and fair.
This baboon must be retired immediately, empty tins make a lot of noise
Chikala
M’membe’s hypocrisy will never end, he is talking of 2026 elections when the 2016 and 2021 were not credible at all. There was mass rigging in 2016, a Samuel Chavula from Uganda was brought from Uganda to help Lungu win the elections. HH tried to petition the elections but they were never heard. In 2021, had UPND not stood firm to guard their votes, the same thing could have happened. Shamefully it was the ruling party crying rigging. Can any sane government allow the opposition to rig the elections? It has never happened, maybe somewhere else but not in Zambia. It’s something unthinkable, you are the ruling party and your poling agents are being chased away , iwe uli ndwii. Where were the security officers, monitors and observers? Losers are always good at creating stories. Contrary to what M’membe is saying, we are looking forward to having free and fair elections in 2026, for the first time in more than 30 years. Under ND, political violence is history, the same opposition is the one which is trying to create an artificial one. The same M’membe made an isolated incident in Serenje where he shot at someone among the UPND supporters. UPND even in opposition never moved with guns. The democratic space has actually widened instead of shrinking because in the past, you could be allowed to campaign in the same Province, Area or District where Lungu was, but this time you can even campaign side by side with the president. The Zambian air space is no longer restricted and no one has ever been detained at any airport. M’membe is talking of being refused to hold rallies, but he is forgetting that UPND was not allowed to campaign even during the official campaign time. You remember how HH was blocked and shot at in Chingola. He failed to reach Northwestern and was brought back to Lusaka under the heaviest escort. So the allegations of political violence, shrinking democratic space, rigging of elections etc are all baseless and unfounded. Those old stories that used to happen in PF and are long gone.
Good write up my colleague, continue reminding these good for nothing politicians. Come 2026 ni Bally again kkkkkkkkkkkkk.
Fred Mumbwe can never be President even if he stood against Mulyokela or Chakomboka Chama.
M’membe you’re just scared of getting below 10%. Instead of campaigning on real issues all he does is propaganda, outright lies and fake news on Facebook and online social media. His Post Newspaper was a political propaganda tool, and with Lungu in power he couldn’t let it continue. He has no real message to sale to the people apart from insults to the president and fake news.
This member of the newly formed AWISI TASILA AND THE WAILERS has always denounced the West including the European Union as imperialists who installed Hakainde Hichilema as a puppet just to push their imperialistic capitalism in Zambia. It’s hypocritical of Mmembe to find it convenient to be wailing to the same imperialists he continues to denounce. This WAILER should know that the EU knows exactly what is going on in Zambia, and they don’t need THE WAILERS to lecture to them.