I pray that the 2026 Elections will not be compromised- Saboi Imboela
By Correspondent
NDC president Saboi Imboela says it is her prayer that the country will have free and fair 2026 polls following the appointment of UPND aligned individuals as commissioners at ECZ.
And Imboela said the UPND should be wary of the fact that the Zambian people languishing in poverty are their greatest competitors ahead of the 2026 General Elections.
Parliament recently ratified the appointment of McDonald Chipenzi and Mwaangala Zaloumis as Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) Commissioner and Chairperson respectively.
Both officials are perceived to be UPND sympathisers, with fears that they may favour the ruling party in the 2026 General Elections.
When reached for a comment, Imboela admitted that the composition of the ECZ is very scarily hence, it is the opposition’s hope that the country will have credible polls.
” We only worked with the Patriotic Front(PF) for three months before elections… even at the worst of our relationship with the PF, we were happy with the ECZ appointments.You get the point. I personally came out with other people including the UPND to congratulate the appointment of Patrick Shindano (as Chief Electoral Officer) as a great appointment because he gave us confidence. At a time when we thought he was more less controlled by the PF, he fought that, pulled back and became a great person we thought he could be. He is person we were comfortable with in that position,” the NDC leader said.
Imboela said ECZ should not have come to the point where people could be saying that it’s board is a composition of UPND cadres.
“…Even the time when there was a friction between him(Nshindano) and the opposition, we were comfortable to say that this person comes in from the civil society and has never been linked to any political party,” she said.
Imboela said it is about time the ECZ went above board because the Kabushi and Kwacha by-elections did not give the people enough confidence in terms of how far the UPND can go to manipulate the elections.
The outspoken NDC leader, however, said the opposition is not shaken on what strategies the UPND have put in place to win the 2026 General Elections.
According to Imboela, the UPND will not be competing with the opposition in the 2026 General Elections but the people of Zambia who are facing hardships.