MAIKO ZULU CALLS FOR LAW TO LIMIT BY-ELECTIONS TO REDUCE EXPENDITURE
Lusaka-based reggae artist and human rights advocate, Maiko Zulu, suggests enacting a law to limit by-elections to once every five years to reduce unnecessary expenditure.
In an interview with Byta FM News, Zulu stated that with the cost of democracy already high, random by-elections make the system of governance even more expensive.
He proposed that Zambia devise a system to create shadow Civic Leaders and Members of Parliament, preferably the runners-up in an election, who must be ready to replace those who can no longer serve for various reasons.
Meanwhile, Operation Young Vote Executive Director, Guess Nyirenda, echoed Zulu’s sentiments, emphasizing that by-elections are costly and an alternative process is needed.
He reiterated that a law allowing the second-place candidate in an election to take office when the incumbent vacates should be considered.
By-eclections aim to replace elected officials. Logic dictates that those are elected offices meaning they can only be occupied by someone who is elected, meaning that there has to be an election. Civic leaders are not elected, so what criteria shall we use? It is the individual on the ballot who is voted in, not the party, so it’s not up to the party to choose a replacement for elected office. The party only presents someone to contest and hopefully be elected. Good to be thinking about these things but also good to be objective and realistic.
There is absolutely no need for by-elections. Haven’t we seen how it works in the UK where the party replaces MPs who resign or die. Same way works in Australia and New Zealand.
The option of runner ups taking over is dangerous as they will be killing each other. Perhaps the only challenge would be with independent candidates.