THE RESIGNATION OF CANDIDATES IN AN ELECTION IS FINAL & CAN NOT BE RESCINDED
The resignation or withdrawal of candidates in an election is final and can NOT be rescinded.
There is absolutely no provision whatsoever in the Constitution or the Electoral Process Act where a candidate is allowed to rescind his decision after resigning or withdrawing from an election. So the decision to rescind a resignation or a withdrawal is null and void and is of no consequence whatsoever as it is not supported by any piece of legislation.
The Constitutional Court in its recent judgment in the case in which governance activist, Isaac Mwanza, had sued both the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the Attorney General over councillors rescinding their resignations or withdrawals from the election, ruled that persons who resign or withdraw from an election can NOT rescind their resignation or withdrawal in the absence of an express provision in the Constitution stating that a resignation or withdrawal can be rescinded.
The 2020 decision of the Constitutional Court was a landmark decision as it affects all resignations and withdrawals provided in the Constitution, whether it is for candidates vying for the position of a councillor, member of parliament, council chairperson or mayor.
What is similar in the case of the precedence that was set by the Constitutional Court is the resignation of a person provided under the Constitution. It doesn’t matter at what level an issue was determined.
ECZ had already accepted the resignations in writing by the candidates and the resignations remain final.
It therefore follows that the Commission will be breaching the law if it went ahead to conduct elections on nominations that have become invalid by reason of the resignation which ECZ accepted on 14th September, 2022.
Issued by
Antonio Mwanza
Media Director
Patriotic Front
