UPND ALLEGEDLY INDUCED WITHDRAWAL OF UPP ASPIRING CANDIDATE FROM KABWATA RACE
The Socialist Party has accused the ruling UPND of engineering the withdrawal of United Progressive Party –UPP- Kabwata parliamentary candidate Francis Libanda from the January 20th election.
Addressing the media in Lusaka this morning following the withdrawal of Mr. Libanda’s candidature from the Kabwata by election race, Socialist Party General Secretary Cosmas Musumali has alleged that the UPND engineered this resignation because it has been facing challenges to sale its candidate Andrew Tayengwa who has allegedly been rejected by the people of Kabwata.
Dr. Musumali says with this resignation, the UPND is well aware that according to the law, the Kabwata by election will have to be cancelled and the process started all over again.
He claims that the Socialist Party is aware of 2 new candidates that the UPND will choose from to replace Mr. Tayengwa when the new election date is announced by the Electoral Commission of Zambia-ECZ-.
Dr. Musumali has since appealed to the ECZ to treat the Kabwata case different and allow the candidates who are already on the ground to continue with their campaigns and the election to go ahead.
Efforts to get UPND Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa on these allegations failed by broadcast time as his phone went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the Governance, Elections, Advocacy Research Services –GEARS- Initiative Zambia says the act by Mr. Libanda to withdraw from the race is very irresponsible and inconveniencing to other candidates, political parties and the electoral commission of Zambia.
Yesterday, Mr. Libanda announced his withdrawal from the kabwata parliamentary race, a move which entails that the electoral commission shall cancel the election and require the filing of fresh nominations by eligible candidates and elections shall be held within 30 days of the filing of fresh nominations.
Mr. Libanda’s decision also means that the nominations done to candidates currently campaigning in Kabwata has been invalidated and candidates and political parties will have to re-adopt new candidates who will be required to pay new nomination fees of K15, 000 per candidate and mobilize new numbers of supporters for their nominations.
Reacting to this development, GEARS Initiative Zambia Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi says this is a very bad development especially after other candidates had already spent money in the campaigns and in paying nomination fees.
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