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!