ECZ AND ZALOUMIS ATEMPTING TO AMMEND CONSTITUTION!
By Elias Kamanga
The Electoral Commission of Zambia’s Chairperson Mrs Mwangala Zaloumis demand for for Tonse leader Hon Brian Mundubile to produce another 1,000 supporters merely because of a political realignment is an attempt at amending the Constitution.
It is a clear administrative overreach designed to illegally usurp the powers of Parliament to AMMEND the Constitution using administrative
orders.
Mundubile has been forced to abandon his SPV, FDD after it became clear that State operatives were determined to block his candidature on the ticket and is expected to contest the elections on a new SPV.
For the avoidance of doubt, Article 100(1)(j) of the Constitution is clear, straightforward and unambiguous and provides that;-
A presidential candidate only needs to be “supported by at least one hundred registered voters from each Province.” Nothing more.
The Constitution does not require those supporters to belong to a political party. It does not require them to belong to an alliance. It does not require them to carry party membership cards or declare political loyalty.
The law only requires two things: that the supporters are registered voters and that they are properly verified by the ECZ. Once that process is completed, the constitutional requirement has been satisfied.
Therefore, the supporters who were already pre-processed for Hon Mundubile remain legally and constitutionally valid supporters of his candidature regardless of the political ticket under which he eventually files nominations.
The supporters endorsed the candidate himself and not a party symbol, not an alliance arrangement and not a political secretariat. The candidate remains the same person today that they supported during verification.
What the ECZ is now attempting to do is create fresh nomination requirements through administrative pronouncements and press briefings. That is dangerous because the ECZ has no constitutional authority to invent laws outside the Constitution and Electoral Process Act.
If this flawed reasoning were accepted, every alliance adjustment, coalition agreement or political merger would force candidates to restart the entire verification process from scratch.
That would be chaotic, unreasonable and legally indefensible.
Zambians are tired of this drama by Mrs Zaloumis and the ECZ. Let the people freely choose their leaders, just like they have always done!
Let Mundubile go to the constitutional court where they will tell him he ditched FDD 100 supporters per province (1000 in all and now use his party’s new supporters (100 per province, coming back to the same thing the ECZ is telling him). Infact they are being fare to him because that window is now closed. He should have defected earlier than the time he needed those 1000 supporters. He is Infact no longer eligible to stand for presidential elections because he failed to comply with the constitutional requirements at the time directed by ECZ in line with the constitution. If you blame ECZ, we will now petition the con court to block his late coming which is now be unconstitutional and he should not be intertained for his indecision. He is not a serious presidential aspirant. He wants to find someone to blame because he knows already that he is going to lose the elections. Everyone knows this fact. Those are the issues Dr Mmembe was talking about when he was mentioning about the zeros.
Mundubile crossed the floor twice. Going to FDD before desolation of parliament and now ditching FDD, the party that sponsored him earlier. He is lawless and untrustworthy. If he became president of Zambia, he will resign and contest the presidential elections in DRC. That is typical of PF, the other party he has ditched.
Like the saying goes, a bad Capernter always blames his tools for every badly
Done job,
This confused Mundubile Camp,,it is always at the throat of ECZ,
Please ,if you are not ready for Elections ,or you have already smelt defeat just withdraw,
Why, ? You re the only ones complaining .
ECZ conducts elections, period
The,choice of electing and diselecting a Political,.PARTY,lies with Us, the electorates and we the Voters,and its our democratic Right,
Your intention, it seems is to create excuses in advance of your impending defeat, and sychic your support base into believing that your votes were stolen ,because of ECZ,
We are watching you