CONTROLLED BY-ELECTIONS NECESSARY IN AN ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY-CHIPENZI
By Balewa Zyuulu
The Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services –GEARS- initiative has maintained that controlled by-elections in an electoral democracy are a necessary undertaking to gauge likely political realignments and changes before a major election.
GEARS Initiative Executive Director MacDonald Chipenzi says what may be key to the country’s democratic growth is to ensure that unnecessary causes of by-elections are curtailed and limited only to death and disqualification by the courts of law and not to completely do away with necessary by-elections.
Mr. Chipenzi states that what caused an uproar over by-elections in the previous electoral cycle from 2016 to 2021 was the abuses committed by the previous regime to only engineer by-elections for political expedience.
He was reacting to President Hakainde Hichilema’s views on by-elections during his media interactions recently as he kept his long standing views on the need to do away with the by-elections in Zambia’s electoral system and process.
PHOENIX NEWS